


The Argonaut

by Swynton (gilithan)



Series: Beyond the Veil [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action, Deep space, Diverse Characters, Drama, F/F, F/M, Lesbians in Space, Long-term Character Development, M/M, Multi, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Work In Progress, gays in space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-02-08 09:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12861411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilithan/pseuds/Swynton
Summary: A group of 100 strangers volunteer to embark on an experiment: One year with no contact aboard a spaceship designed to replace colonies. Leadership struggles, relationships develop, and surprises are in store, and the question starts being asked: Will they survive a year aboard the Argonaut?





	1. Chapter 1

               The moment Nora stepped out of the train she regretted her decision. The large open space she had entered was filled with people, far more than she had thought. She couldn’t see much of the ship from here just a large slab of metal splattered with panels and equipment and several large open doors. This was one of two entrances with the other being on the far side of the vessel. A hundred people hadn’t sounded like much, especially after seeing the size of the ship she would be spending the next year of her life on. Nora had thought she would have plenty of space to herself. She could already tell how wrong she was. It wasn’t even the number of people, most of whom were government officials and dock workers, but more the other passengers were what gave Nora concern. She could tell who were passengers by their clothing, official “crew uniforms” designed by the organisers to “promote unity.” Anyone wearing a dark grey jacket with a thick blue stripe on the left breast side was going on the _Argonaut_ with her.

               They were just so… eager. Milling about, talking to everyone, pointing and directing luggage around like they’re someone important. It looked like most of the passengers were entering from the same dock but most of the people here were officials checking the ship’s systems or the traveller’s luggage and identification. One of them walked over to her and she quickly got rid of him, flashing her ID and explaining she had no more luggage then the bag she held. Others weren’t having as much of an easy time, the dock was filled with noise. This isn’t what Nora expected at all.

               It was about three months ago that she heard about the experiment. The government boasted that soon the Verian Empire would have deep-space colonies throughout the known galaxy, expanding beyond the limitations of habitable planets the Empire had already exhausted, and even satellites and starbases. They revealed a new class of starship: the 313, deep-space class vessel. Concern grew, however, about deep space living. Even satellite and starbase workers returned home every few months to avoid physical and mental issues but to live permanently in space? To eat and use only what they grow themselves? Surely there would be problems. So to quell the public fear they designed an experiment, sending a hundred people out on a 313 alone for a year with no communication from the Empire, or family. No control over where the ship goes, just a year existing in space.

There were three ships, five were completed, but they didn’t want to risk them all. The _Argonaut_ was colour-coded blue, the _Paralus_ green, and the _Olympius_ red. There was the option of randomly choosing participants but in the end the Empire had more than enough volunteers. There was a short and random selection project for the experiment. The only requirements were an expected lifespan of at least a year and basic physical and mental health. There were many reasons Nora could think of to join such an experiment, free accommodation, escape from overcrowded lower class colonies, adventure of for the challenge. For Nora it was all about solitude.

               No matter where you went there was always people, and in the over-populated Verian Empire that was just a fact of life. Even at the job she found sorting old files into new systems she was surprised to find she shared a small office with two other people. Nora spent most of her time working from home. Even then thought the three-room apartment was shared with three other people. There was just not enough space. She had spent the last few years living on a mid-sector planet named Archania c, far enough away from the capital to avoid large events and traffic but not too far as to be in dangerous territory. Even then it was packed with people, every planet was, it had been five centuries since they colonised the last empty habitable planet and a few decades since they gave up on the space colony program, sort of. Even the ship ride there was packed, no vessel capable of jumping sectors was private except for the ones used by the government or military.

               So the opportunity to disappear for a year and be alone on a space ship? Perfect. And even if there were another ninety-nine people on board the _Argonaut_ was big enough to hold three times as many and still have space to spare. But as Nora looked around at the others on the dock she worried privacy might not be their priority. Nora was good at reading people, she could get a sense of person just by looking at them and an even better sense by seeing how they interact. The most prominent presence was a women in her late-thirties, just younger than Nora, arguing loudly with the workers over how they handled her luggage. Nora could tell from the luggage and the woman’s clothes she was used to high-class treatment. This woman was the kind of person who never grew past three, a brat. Nora wondered why she agreed to come on the experiment in the first place, perhaps an adventurous husband had brought her along. Or perhaps those who knew her found it the only way to get rid of her.

               Nora quickly walked past the commotion, and tried to find someone that gave her hope for the next year. There was a small young man, probably in his late teens, who looked terrified of everything and kept making quick glances to the exit as if looking for an escape. There was another woman with a pleasant look on her face in a conversation with an emphatic man who was gesturing wildly. There was a quick flash in her eyes every now and then that gave Nora the impression she was seriously considering throwing him off the docks. Nora was considering whether to try and save the poor woman when another man brushed past her, rushing off towards the entrance. He wasn’t wearing a jacket but he was running towards the open doors. From the brief encounter Nora got a good look at his face. Bright eyes, clear skin, perfect hair, and a cheeky smile that gave Nora the impression that he was exactly the kind of smug, entitled, upper-class idiot she had hoped to avoid. She decided it was time to board the _Argonaut_ , find the emptiest corner and stay there for a year. However, as she got closer she saw another passenger. A man with a pristine uniform and large glasses, arguing with an official about his luggage. Nora considered ignoring it but her empathetic instincts, and the knowledge that she would have to talk to people at some point in the next year, made her walk over.

               The government official was large and intimidating, and Nora had to admit she was impressed the smaller man was standing up for himself. As she got closer she could hear them. “You were told before, only one large suitcase allowed, no exceptions,” the official explained for what sounded like the hundredth time

               “You don’t understand,” the other passenger pleaded, wringing his hands, “I can’t spend a year with only half of this stuff, its important!” He sounded to Nora a bit selfish, no one else brought too much luggage, but she got a good vibe from him, and he sounded less like he thought himself better than others and more like he was put in an impossible situation. “Is everything alright?” She said at a distance

               “Um…” the passenger ran his hands through his hair, the wild mop his only un-groomed feature, “yeah, yeah I’m fine, uh… thank you”

               “He’s trying to bring double the allowed luggage,” the official told her, exaggerating the severity

               “No he’s not,” Nora said innocently

               “What?” the two man spoke simultaneously

               “This one’s mine,” Nora played the fool, grabbing the handle of one suitcase which was much heavier than she had anticipated

               “Fine whatever, just get on board,” the official relented

               “Uh, thanks,” the passenger struggling with the heavy luggage until the official sighed with frustration and grabbed it out of his hands.

               Nora stifled a laugh before heading towards the door, pulling ‘her’ luggage behind her. The other man running to catch up, “I’m Isaac by the way,” he tried to make eye contact, and failed

               “Nice to meet you Isaac. You’ve got this right?” She handed him his suitcase, which he almost dropped. She began to walk away, and he would’ve followed but the heavy luggage anchored him, “I didn’t get your name!”

               “I know”

…

               The  _Argonaut_ was one of the largest ships the Empire had ever built, larger even than the massive Flagship-class vessels that patrol the galaxy. But it was not a military vessel, it was designed for civilians, farmers and the homeless. However saying it was one ship was not entirely accurate as it technically came in two parts. The engines and piloting systems were in a long section through the centre of a large ring. The majority of the ship’s space was in this ring connected to the centre by three elevator shafts. On three different sections the ring became thicker with each section with a different function, farming, living quarters, and storage and docking. This ring sat slightly behind the centre ship and had a separate power source capable of lasting far longer than the other. The centre ship being designed to dock more frequently than the full vessel as well as to serve as emergency defence while the more vulnerable ring stayed behind. Each model 313 ship was currently docked on Veria c, the second planet orbiting the Empire’s main star besides the capital. From here each ship would weave a path through the different sections, nebula and colonies of the Empire, testing both the ships’ capabilities as well as the crew’s mental and physical health.

               As Lt. Commander Malcolm Pearson looked out at the  _Argonaut_  he felt both envy and relief. Envy that he wasn’t making history in joining this adventure, and relief that he wasn’t going to be stuck on a non-military ship with strangers for a year. He had a duty to do after all, he was the Executive Officer, the second-in-command aboard the pride of the Verian fleet, the 310 Flagship-class  _Alcaeus_. It was an impressive post, especially for someone of his age, but he and his brother had been groomed for military from childhood and he had excelled at that calling. Usually the ship would be out patrolling the Veil or keeping an eye on the at-times-rebellious outer systems like Eutropia _._ They’d been called back to the Veria system to oversee the launch. This experiment involved the regular populace, and was a sign of the future of the Empire, a test of its power. Which made it a prime target for what little resistance the people gave. They were small in number, and had no real victories or power to stand behind, in truth the only resistance they give is not being wiped out yet, but it wouldn’t be long as the full force of the Empire was searching for them. Malcolm had few run-ins with the rebellion and he had no sympathy for their cause, and no respect for their power. One day he hoped to be known as the Captain who hunted down those that remained, that would put his name in the history books.

               Malcolm heard his commanding officer, Captain Orion, join him next to the window. Malcolm had only worked with him for a few months, but he had heard stories of the fierce Captain Orion and the  _Alcaeus_  for years. He was the one who had kept order in the outer systems for more than 20 years, and who had ensured the rebellion was in the state they were in. He had never lost a skirmish, and never took a break. He was known for saying that his job would never be over as the Empire was only as strong as its military. “No issues yet?” the Captain asked stoically

               “None, sir,” Malcolm replied, in the few months of working with the man Malcolm had developed a strong respect for him, even more than he had for the legend he had heard during training.

               “Good, it’s almost fully boarded. It won’t be long, be ready,” the Captain walked away and left Malcolm to his thoughts. The  _Alcaeus_  was to follow the  _Argonaut_  out of the system for the first few days ensuring there were no malfunctions or pirates waiting to seize control. There weren’t many pirate vessels in Empire space, especially this close the capital. Even then the ships they piloted were rarely anything more than merchant or transport ships modified with crude weapons. Some deployed explosives through airlocks, others acted as battering rams with spikes attached to their hull. For groups like these the  _Argonaut_ would be an enticing target, a way to live a life outside the crowded Empire colonies. Away from the watchful eye of the Inquisitors. However, the  _Alcaeus_ could not follow the  _Argonaut_ for their whole journey. Not because of a lack of resources but as a condition of the experiment. In truth the experiment would begin in earnest when the two ships parted ways and the passengers began living their lives without government oversight and guidance. Because of the risks involved the ships’ paths through space were a closely guarded secrets. Even the passengers themselves didn’t know where they were headed. Only the highest government officials were privy to that information and Captain Orion was one of them.

               “Sir,” an officer interrupted Malcolm’s train of thought, “the ship is ready to launch”

               “Alright,” he nodded, “warm up the engines, get ready to follow.”

               The  _Argonaut_ ’s engines roared to life, blue fumes ignited as the enormous vessel, the largest the dock had ever held, began to slowly move forward. A ship like this would rarely dock again, it would be too cumbersome. One wrong move and half the city would go up in flames. As Malcolm stared down at the ship leaving orbit, Nora stared through the small window in the docking bay door. Some part of her hoped that she would miss the crowded cities of the Empire, that she had something to miss. But all she really felt as the buildings grew rapidly smaller was that this year could not go by slowly enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More passengers of the Argonaut are introduced as they settle in to there home for a year.

               5 hours after the _Argonaut_ tension was rising on board. Although there was enough space for over three hundred passengers there were still decisions to make and areas to be allocated a purpose. And everyone had an opinion. This was where the experiment began, with a group of strangers settling differences and making decisions. Some people had already started to emerge as leaders. Lena was one, a woman from Alcinous b, where huge satellites  were built in orbit to maximize sunlight available to the crops. The food grown there would fuel the majority of the Empire. She had started organising the farming areas, and had consequently gained the trust of the practical majority. She had met most of the other passengers on the dock and made a point of remembering names and faces. Ethan, a young man from Veria c, had won over the more youthful passengers on pure charisma, whereas an older woman named Miranda had gained the respect of most others. Even though she didn’t make many decisions her opinion still seemed to hold weight. So when Isaac found himself in conflict with a more stubborn and hot-headed passenger he had to decide who he would trust to settle the dispute, and eventually called for Lena.

               “What’s the problem?” Lena said calmly as she turned the corner. They were in one of the larger multi-purpose rooms, or MPRs that dotted the residential sector. Most had already been assigned purposes as rec rooms, planning centres, large kitchens and such. This was one of the few left unassigned, and the two men were arguing over its purpose. The residential area was separated into “blocks” each a large rectangle of space with ten to fifteen privacy areas, there were no proper doors but curtains could be installed for privacy. The passengers had named these areas cells. Each cell had its own sink, toilet, and rudimentary shower, and each block had a small kitchen. Most blocks, but not all, also included one of these multi-purpose areas. Lena had to admit she was surprised they had been used up so quickly.

               “I need this room to conduct my research,” Isaac explained calmly, gesturing to some of the equipment, “but this guy thinks he has a better idea”

               “A trading centre, people are bound to have things or make things they don’t need, and need things they didn’t pack, this way they can trade them for credits,” the man interjected before Isaac had finished. Lena had met this man before, older than her but not by much, from some mid-sector planet were everyone was obsessed with moving up to the core systems, and staying out of the outer rim. “It’s Benny right?” Lena started. She was starting to get tired over settling disputes, but she wasn’t complaining, “why do you need this room specifically?” she gestured to Isaac’s equipment, “it looks like Isaac was here first”

               “We’re not in primary school,” Benny snorted, “the ‘I was here first’ argument doesn’t really apply, and besides this is the only free room near my room”

               “Mine too!” Isaac pleaded, “Look you’re going to be helping people all over the ship, but there’s no point in me walking all over the ship just to get here”

               “He has a point,” Lena started, “but I’m guessing that’s not enough for you…Benny why do you need this room for this?”

               “What you expect me to store my stock in my room?” Benny retorted

               “Well wouldn’t a storage room be better? You could actually lock the door so things don’t get stolen”

               “But…But that’s all the way over on another section! You expect people to walk all that way?”

               “You could come to them,” Lena suggested, “take orders and collect items, then return to storage and drop off what you’ve bought, and pick up what you’ve sold”

               “You would get more customers that way,” Isaac added, seeing Lena’s plan.

               Benny nodded, for a second, then looked at Isaac, “Fine, whatever.”

               He walked away as Isaac sighed and relaxed, “Thank you, Lena”

               “Its fine Isaac,” Lena smiled half-heartedly, she was getting tired of dealing with stubborn passengers, but Isaac’s request piqued her interest, “what kind of research is this anyway?”

               “Uh, complicated,” Isaac said evasively, “and not really interesting to be honest”

               “Fine,” Lena didn’t push. She had met a lot of people like Isaac on Alcinous, scientists desperate for their big break, something to set them apart from millions of others in the Empire, always suspicious of people trying to steal their research. Not to mention Isaac didn’t seem like a tactful person, not cruel or rude, but not someone who necessarily enjoyed other’s company. Which begged the question: “Why did you choose to research on this ship?” Lena asked

               “The space,” Isaac replied, it was clear he was choosing his words carefully, “I… was-I had to leave my last laboratory, and nowhere else had the privacy or space I needed to keep going”

               “Well I hope you get the privacy you want here,” Lena smiled, “It looks like some people are more interested in the social aspect of this trip than others.” She started to walk away

               “Wait,” Isaac was eager to get to work, but he didn’t mean to be rude, “I didn’t mean I didn’t want to make friends, just that… I wanted to be able to be alone when I need to be is all”

               “Don’t worry Isaac I understand,” she smiled again, “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to make friends and research… whatever it is you’re researching.”

               As she was leaving she almost collided with a large sweaty man jogging down the hall, who barely acknowledged her apart from swerving to avoid her and muttering “sorry” as he passed. “Watch where you’re going!” she yelled out after him, but he was already gone

               Isaac stood next to her, “who was that?”

               “I don’t know,” Lena sighed, “he wasn’t on the dock where we entered”

               “He’s a Seeker,” a voice said from behind them.

               Lena turned to the woman who had spoken, a woman about the same age as Isaac, maybe younger. She didn’t recognise her either, so Lena theorised they must have boarded on the other dock. And she was holding a small kitten.

               “My name’s Lena,” she said politely

               “Ashley,” the woman replied absently, scratching the kitten’s neck. Seekers were the largest arm of the Empire’s military, the soldiers and pilots, Lena was surprised to see one here. Most Seekers who continue after their conscription were so devoted to their careers they would never take a year off to partake in something like this. And from the looks of the man he was in his mid-twenties, at the very least older than twenty-one when the conscription phase ended.

               “I’m Isaac,” Isaac began

               “Where did you get that?” Lena asked, nodding at the cat

               “Storage section,” Ashley still didn’t make eye contact, “they had a bunch of animals in cryogesis”

               “We hadn’t decided whether to revive them yet,” Lena didn’t like the idea of people wondering around the storage section taking whatever they liked. There were things in there people would need, seeds for farming, water, anything a colony might need that they couldn’t create themselves.

               “Don’t worry,” Ashley replied passive-aggressively, finally making eye contact, “you didn’t have to.” She began walking in the same direction as the man had went, when he reappeared rounding another corner, he was doing loops of each section. “Where are you going?” Isaac asked, he was curious about the odd people

               “To follow him,” Ashley called back, “he’s been at this for an hour now I figure he’s either going to collapse or break into hyperspeed either way I want to see it.”

               Lena turned to Isaac, “suddenly the idea of living with these people for a year doesn’t sound so tempting”

               “I think it sounds like fun,” Isaac said with a smirk.

…

               So far there had been no problems with the _Argonaut’s_ progress. It had successfully left the atmosphere and was almost in position to enter hyperspeed. All jumps between systems had to be carefully calculated, by the time they detected any obstacles in hyperspeed they would have already collided. The _Argonaut_ , like most modern vessels, had systems that automatically calculated these risks after coordinates were entered, in this case by its automatic programming. If it had been piloted by a person then it would display the optimum position to start from. All that was left to do was fire up the main engine, then the experiment would truly begin.

               For now the _Alcaeus_ still followed but it was only a formality, if there were any pirates or rebels waiting to attack before the _Argonaut_ left the system the long-range sensors would have picked them up already. However, there was one problem that worried Commander Pearson

               “What’s the problem?” Captain Orion entered the bridge with an air of authority, taking a seat at the central chair

               “We’ve had some sort of interference in our readings from the _Argonaut_ sir,” Malcom answered, saluting, “possibly a solar flare, or perhaps a malfunction”

               “What if we moved closer?”

               “It wouldn’t help sir, it’s not that we can’t receive data, it’s that data we’re receiving is corrupted. I’ve sent a message to the RTD, we’ll hear back from them soon,” Malcolm finished as Orion shot him a stoic look, he couldn’t tell if the Captain was angry at the problem, or happy the Commander acted appropriately. The RTD, the Research and Technology Division, was the scientific branch of the Empire’s military manned by the scientists who are willing to give up recognition for their work. Or those who have no other way to conduct research but with the Empire’s resources. They were the ones who had designed the 313 model, and were conducting the experiment. The _Alcaeus_ was supposed to scan the _Argonaut_ to double-check the readings the _Argonaut_ sent to the RTD, but if this was a solar flare corrupting their data then they wouldn’t receive any useful information. Whereas one readable set would be sent from the _Argonaut_ if it was a malfunction on the _Alcaeus._

“Sirs, we’ve got a reply from RTD,” the communications officer called out, and Captain Orion opened the message on his screen. “They say its corruption from a solar flare,” Orion read

               Malcolm breathed a sigh of relief, no malfunction meant no time spent docked for repairs

               Orion continued, “They think they can decrypt it in time, the experiment should go ahead”

               “Should we send the signal sir?” Malcolm asked, when the Captain nodded he directed the coms officer to send a signal to the _Argonaut,_ which would begin preparations to leave the system. Malcolm couldn’t help but be concerned. If the Empire thought it necessary to have the _Alcaeus_ follow the _Argonaut_ instead of simply relying on planet based sensors to look for threats then the passengers on board could be in trouble. However Malcolm and those on board, would have to trust in the security given by the secret itinerary. No one can follow them if they didn’t know where to look. And the _Alcaeus_ and the rest of the Seekers had seen to it that there was a very low possibility of the ship coming across pirates just by chance. But still Malcolm had a stone in his gut as the engines warmed up. After all, his brother was on that ship.

…

               Jonah Pearson had been anxious ever since he set foot on the _Argonaut_. Being on a ship he knew little about filled with people he knew nothing about went against every instinct he had as a soldier. So his first priority was information gathering, he chose a cell, memorised its layout, then the layout of the block, then got the names of the people in that block. The process was going smoothly until one of the other passengers asked if they were being interrogated, which hit a definite soft spot for Jonah. So to clear his mind and familiarise himself with the ship he went for a run. He was vaguely aware of the girl following him, and vaguely aware of when she stopped, but he didn’t slow down, not even when he almost collided with another woman. He was so caught up in the process and monotone grey of the blocks he didn’t realise how much time had passed until he almost collapsed outside an almost empty set of blocks. He knew what exhaustion felt like, he should’ve been more careful. He knew that there were enough cells to house at least three hundred people and that most passengers had searched for blocks closer to the others. He looked around at the cells near him, empty. He felt his legs get weaker, his throat dry, his head spin. he was worried he’d pass out, and no one would find him.

               He tried to stabilise himself, get moving back the way he came, when suddenly a canteen was pressed into his hands and someone told him to drink. He did, greedily, and the person pulled the bottle away, “small sips,” she reprimanded. He looked up, the voice came from a woman, older than him by at least ten years looking very unimpressed. “Sorry,” he gasped between breaths

               “It’s what, six hours into the trip and you’re ready to collapse?” she said sarcastically, “you might want to pace yourself, you know, punish your body over a period of time”

               He didn’t laugh, but reached for the water again, taking smaller sips as instructed. He was good at following orders. “I’m Jonah,” he said. He was regaining his breath and getting feeling his extremities again

               She narrowed her eyes, “Nora”

               “So, Nora, why are you in this section? It seems pretty abandoned”

               “I don’t know… why are you running yourself to death?”

               Jonah took the hint, she obviously wasn’t one for sharing which suited him fine. “So, uh… where are you from? Which colony I mean”

               “…Archania c”

               “Really-oh sorry, I mean. I didn’t pick you for a filer”

               “Well I am, okay?”

               “Okay”

               Nora sighed, “go on, where are you from then?”

               “Polis, Polis i” the Polis system had the largest concentration of habitable planets in the Empire. It had quickly become the centre of trade and home to most average citizens of the middle class.

               “Let me guess you become a Seeker to get out?”

               “Is it that obvious I’m a Seeker?”

               “No one else punishes their body like this”

               Jonah laughed, “No, me and my brother always dreamt about joining the Seekers, we’re career guys”

               Nora opened her mouth to speak, but thought the better of it. If he was a career Seeker why would he interrupt that career to be a part of this experiment? Nora really, really, didn’t want to have a conversation that deep though.

               “I gotta say, you look sorta familiar”

               “Alright, I think you’re going to be fine. Goodbye”

               He stood up, still a little unsteady but not dangerously so. He was grateful to be able to talk to someone with interrogating them though. Jonah also felt Nora might need to do the same, “so someone set up a bar in an MPR a few blocks down, I might regain myself there. Want to join me?”

               “I don’t think so,” she grabbed the bottle and started walking

               “Hey it’s still a few blocks away, don’t want me to collapse on the way there do you?” Jonah felt confident he could make it, but also felt like Nora should get used to having company. He was used to being on edge with everyone he meets, whether it’s a superior officer to impress or a civilian to intimidate. Nora seemed like neither of those. Yet there was something familiar…

               “Fine,” she conceded, rolling her eyes. Before they started to walk the ships jolted for a second, sending them both momentarily off-balance. Nora glanced out of the window in a nearby cell, seeing the neon-coloured lights confirmed what had happened. The _Argonaut_ had entered hyperspeed. They were now already light years away from Veria, and the safety of the _Alcaeus’_ protection.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn more about the passengers' pasts, and new areas of the Argonaut are discovered

               Ashley had only know the kitten for about two hours but already she would die for him. She could tell his exhaustion from waking was starting to wear off, and he had started to glance around, startled by his surroundings. Ashley had worried the kitten would try and escape. In such a big ship it could easily get lost and cause a whole mess of trouble but thankfully it seemed content to be held. Maybe it was her waking him or that it had gotten used to her while sleepy but something had endeared her to him. And him to her. However his stressed, if pathetic, mewing distracted her and she had lost track of Jonah. The Seeker who had practically interrogated her as soon as they were aboard and then immediately started torturing his body had intrigued Ashley, but not enough to continue searching for him.

               She had noticed they had entered hyperspeed, the soft humming recognisably different from the sub-light engines. It made her feel strangely safer now that they weren’t being escorted by a battleship. Listening to the kittens cries Ashley realised it needed food. She also realised she had no idea where to get food for a cat. She did know that some passengers had set up a bar not far from here. They had raided the storage section for food and one man Bart had his own bar and brought alcohol with him. Some people had thought ahead like that, knew what they wanted to be here. If anywhere could feed a cat it would be there.

               It turns out they did have food, but it took some convincing to get them to serve a cat, and she promised to find a more sustainable way to feed it in the future. The bar wasn’t big, they had moved the big table so that it half-blocked the entrance to the neighbouring cell, and used the MPR for tables. There were a few people being served but none that Ashley recognised. One man did stand out to Ashley though. It seemed he had been at this bar since departure, judging by how drunk he looked. Swaying on his chair, spilling some of his drink, he’d been making good use of the bar’s supply by the looks of things. Ashley set the cat down and he immediately set to work tearing into the small fish the bar had provided. The drunk man started sliding from his chair before Ashley caught him, “whoa there buddy, day one and you’re sloshed, way to make a first impression”

               “No, itsh neshesshary,” the man slurred

               “What?” Ashley struggled with his weight

               “I’m scared of space!” he yelled loudly. He draped his hand across Ashley’s face before finally collapsing on the floor unconscious. Ashley decided to leave him there.

               She wasn’t new to drunkards and bars, though this barely counted. Ashley grew up on Dorika d, the Empire’s biggest hotspot for tourists and partiers. The other planets and moons in the system were so close the cities could projects images onto their surface. One specific comet, Selas, is covered in ice that reflects the light back onto Dorika, bathing the city in colour. Unfortunately, Ashley had always found it hard to appreciate. Seeing as her parents had all but sold her off as a child, employing her as a “servant” at one of the bars. The truth is was that she was nothing more than a slave. She never earned anything more than the minimum necessities, and sometimes barely even that. She wasn’t allowed to work in her time off, what little she had, but they had to give her some to avoid the authorities. Even during the conscription period all citizens had to complete her contract with her boss remained, pulling her back when she finished. This experiment was her only way out, a government project overrode her contract, and set her free. So while her instincts were to help the drunk guy out, she was really done with men like him.

               “Is he alright?” A familiar voice asked behind her. She turned, it was Jonah, the seeker she had been following. He had stopped sweating, which she was grateful for, but his shirt was still stained and he was walking lethargically. She knew he would collapse eventually. Following him this time was a woman who looked very unhappy to be here. “Jonah!” Ashley called, while he may not have had the best first impression she liked him. At least she liked making him uncomfortable by being overly familiar. Seekers were all uptight and Jonah was no exception. “He’s fine,” she answered, not even checking, she turned to the woman, “Ashley”

               “Nora,” The woman grunted

               “I see you decided to stop running,” Ashley laughed

               “Yeah,” Jonah rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “sorry for acting so weird, I guess I have to get used to being around civilians”

               “I suppose so,” Ashley was concerned. Even the most dedicated Seekers have holiday time, and lives outside of the military even if they usually spent it with other military officers. There was something off about Jonah. Nothing that made her dislike him, more something that made her worried for his wellbeing.

               “Uh,” Jonah spoke, confused by the look on Ashley’s face, “so me and Nora were gonna grab a drink, care to join us?”

               “Sure,” Ashley replied, snapping out of her thoughts, “it’ll be nice meeting new people,” Ashley smiled bubbly. “And this is Jasper,” Ashley gestured playfully to the cat, who was now gnawing on a fishbone

               Nora rolled her eyes, “not to be rude but,” she grabbed a bottle from the bar and threw a few coins in its place, “I think I might give it a miss today.” She sauntered off back the way they came.

               “Well she’s wrong,” Ashley glared after her, “that was rude”

               “Yeah,” Jonah agreed, “don’t take it personally I think she’s not a fan of people in general.”

               A large metallic sound and some shouting a few blocks away ended their conversation. They ran over. The sound had come from a large block that had few cells and no MPR, but it did have a large door. It had confused people at first but it wasn’t long until they figured it out, it was the elevator that linked the outer ring to the inner vessel. Except while the doors were locked when they first arrived they were now wide open.

…

               Nora was walking away from the bar when she heard an odd alarm from beside her. A strange metal door to her right opened suddenly revealing an elevator. Others had heard the sound too and Nora heard them come running. She jumped into the elevator and pushed the button before they arrived. The elevator jolted and began moving down. As Nora looked up she saw the faces of the people who had gathered, and she pushed her back against one wall to hide. Nora came on this trip to get away from people, now it looked like they would be unavoidable. When Jonah almost collapsed next to her cell she had acted on instinct and helped. When he suggested they go to the bar she thought a drink might help… But she couldn’t go through with it. She knew she would have to talk to people eventually, sometimes she even wanted to, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t explain why. She just couldn’t.

               As the elevator made its way down she realised something about its construction. It had been built smaller than the shaft it was constructed for, and attached through odd hinges. This allowed the elevator to turn as it moved. While the main ship had artificial gravity directed downwards the ring had gravity pulling towards the centre, this meant the elevator would be at a different angle to the ship. This way the direction of gravity in the shaft slowly adapted to that of its destination. So while it always finished its journey the right way up the occupants weren’t thrown wildly against a wall as it suddenly twists. The elevator reached its destination and Nora could see that on this end the shaft also doubled as an airlock, and a docking clamp. When the ring and the ship separated this airlock would seal, and the shaft would remain behind with the ring.

               The elevator jolted slightly as it stopped, and the doors opened slowly as the atmosphere stabilised between the two vessels. As Nora walked onto the ship the lights flickered to life, revealing the sleek but practical interior. The size of the ship was mainly the engines, making the inside more practical than spacious. Although most of the _Argonaut’s_ supplies were kept in the ring, some emergency supplies were still kept in the main ship. Nora had walked out into a spacious room filled with cabinets and boxes, lined with doors labelled storage. At the end of the large room was a large door, next to the airlock she exited from were two others that were identical. These were most likely for the elevators originating from the other ring sections. She ignored the storage and walked across the room. Nora did want to explore, but more than that she wanted to find somewhere she could drink without interruption. Through the large door there was a sizable corridor, as she walked through she read the signs on the smaller corridors leading off of it. One was for the engine, another for a medbay. The next intersection labelled both off-shoots as quarters. In the event that the passengers had to spend long periods of time away from the ring there were rudimentary bunks to house the crew, but only enough for about 20, and even then it would be squeeze. Nora kept walking.

               The corridor ended with another large door, when it opened Nora was in a large room. While not as large as the cargo hold, it was much darker, lit only by the distant odd distortion of light that came with hyperspeed. Nora instantly recognised this room as the bridge. The lights flickered on, and she could see the room clearly. The room was separated into sections sorted by purpose. One section was surrounded by screens showing data on the ship, energy usage, systems functions, even life signs. The section across from it had screens as well, but not as many, the largest had a chart of all systems in the Empire, with a flashing light indicating the _Argonaut’s_ position. In front of those were two similar chairs closest two the windows. While both had large complex controls jutting out of the consoles immediately in front, each had distinctly different controls on the side. From experience Nora could tell that one was meant for the main pilot, and the other meant for a co-pilot and weapon systems.

               Nora approached one of the further back chairs, she supposed she would have a few minutes to herself before the other passengers started to explore. Apparently she was wrong. Just before she sat down a hand grabbed her shoulder, someone tried to speak but before they did Nora’s instincts kicked in. She span quickly, grabbing the wrist with one hand and a shoulder with the other, turning the man around and pushing him against the wall, twisting his arm behind his back painfully. “Ow, geez!” he cried, Nora recognised him, he was the boy who pushed past her on the docks, “is this always how you greet new people?”

               “Sorry,” Nora replied, “you startled me.”

               She let him go, and he rubbed his shoulder, grimacing, “how’d you get here so fast anyway?”

               “I was next to the elevator when it opened. You?”

               “Same, ‘cept I was in the storage section, I assume you were in residential?”

               She nodded, glancing down the corridor, looking for an escape. She heard more than saw the airlocks open on the other end. She wasn’t getting privacy anytime soon.

               “I’m Ethan, since you asked,” he replied sarcastically

               “Nora,” she sighed, she really didn’t want to get to know people on this trip, but the way things were going she would know everyone by the end of the week. Nora had hoped things would turn out less communal, but she supposed that’s what this experiment was all about. “Wow you really don’t talk much do you, Inquisitor?” Ethan asked, slouching on one of the chairs

               “Excuse me?” Nora went pale

               “I mean the you don’t _look_ stupid, wheels are turning you just don’t feel like sharing,” Ethan smirked

               “You called me Inquisitor,” Nora clenched her jaw

               “Well, I mean, uh,” Ethan stuttered, “it’s pretty obvious with the way you attacked me, how silent you are, hell even the way you stand”

               “We’re done here”

               Nora all but jogged out the bridge, and straight into Jonah, who looked concerned. “You better come quick,” he said urgently, “they found something.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An important find sparks an debate as leaders making decisions. And some of Nora's past comes to light.

               Ethan couldn’t figure out Nora. He prides himself in being able to read people, but Nora acted strangely. When he got on board he knew there had to be a mole, someone working for the Empire among the passengers, observing people who didn’t know they were being observed. After finding out Jonah was a seeker everyone thought it was him, then he began acting strangely and it was clear he was hardly spy material. Nora, however, seemed to fit the bill. She was older, so if she was military she wasn’t a rookie and she was smart, Ethan could tell be the way she looked at people, analysing them with a cold stare. She had the intensity and stature of an Inquisitor. Or at least that’s what Ethan _had_ thought.

               Inquisitors were the third branch of the Empire’s military. The Seekers were the soldiers, specialists and pilots, the RTD researched and developed new technology for them to use, while the Inquisitors were the leaders. New Inquisitors were Seekers, or RTDs, who were promoted by being given a direct autonomous command. However it was a rigorous process, in fact it was very rare a new Inquisitor was promoted. Instead the Empire simply rotated the ones they had, with several having no project for years until a space opened up rather than risk employing a disloyal Inquisitor. The Inquisitors without positions were not out on the streets however but instead lived a life of luxury on the core systems. The Inquisitors were the elite of the elite. Brilliant, cold, and calculating. Which is why Ethan was so shocked by Nora’s reaction. Even if she was an Inquisitor sent to spy on the group she wouldn’t have reacted so violently to being found out. To be honest Ethan would’ve been a lot less surprised if Nora had simply killed him on the spot. There was something different going on here. Ethan just had to figure out what.

               “What do you mean ‘they found something?’” Nora asked, eager to leave but Jonah stood in her way

               “Just,” Jonah sighed, gesturing to follow as he walked back down the corridor, “follow me”

               “You’re that Seeker right?” Ethan asked following behind

               “My _name_ is Jonah”

               “Alright Seeker Jonah, what exactly did they find?”

               “Guns, lots of them. Some big enough to blast a hole in the hull”

               “That’s not exactly surprising,” Nora remarked, “this ‘Main Ship’ has a military set-up, there must be guns somewhere”

               “The Inquisitor’s right,” Ethan added, “they said they kitted out this ship like they would a real colony. That includes guns”

               “You’re an Inquisitor?” Jonah span wildly around, only to see Nora do the same. She grabbed Ethan’s collar and slammed him against the wall so hard it echoed, “Don’t you ever call me that again!”

               Jonah ran over, trying to pull Nora off Ethan. “What is wrong with you?” he yelled, as Nora pushed his hands away and stepped back, Ethan sliding to the floor. Nora didn’t answer, she simply stormed off down the corridor. “You really should be careful pushing people’s buttons,” Jonah said, pulling Ethan to his feet, “especially an Inquisitor’s”

               “Where would be the fun in that?” Ethan laughed, rubbing his chest.

…

               Guns were the last thing this group. Lena had hardly even begun getting to know the passengers but already she had found some volatile personalities. Benny was one of them, so of course it hardly surprised her that he was leading the charge for free access to the guns. A few passengers had taken the elevators down together, and had quickly decided to search through the cargo for anything useful that hadn’t been found in the ring. It wasn’t long before someone found the guns. “Look, I don’t understand why this is even such a big deal,” Lena argued, “we aren’t military, we’re not going to be fighting anyone. If anything we’ll be fighting each other in which case guns are hardly going to help things.” A few faces around the room nodded. Lena was worried about how quickly things were becoming political. She and Benny made up the majority of the discussion while most others stood back and chose sides. Lena was confident in her opinion and had no problem speaking up in a group, however she also believed in democratic debate and didn’t like that most were content to let others make decisions for them.

               “You’re right,” Benny replied, circling the room, “most likely the only fights we’ll get into are going to be with each other, which is why _everyone_ has a right to protect themselves!” More people agreed some, even shouting approval

               “They won’t have to protect themselves against guns unless we start handing them out, _this_ is the best way to protect everyone.”

               Nora entered the room suddenly, everyone turning to look. She was quickly followed by Jonah and Ethan. Jonah stared at Nora with an unreadable expression. “Really? You think if this guy,” Benny continued speaking, seeing an opportunity as he gestured to Jonah who looked as intimidating as ever, “is harassing old Miranda, she’ll be able to stand up to him?”

               “Why would I-” Jonah started

               “And what a _gun_ would help matters?” Lena replied, “so what happens when you, or even Miranda, wants something. More food, or a better cell. And what happens if the person they can get it from doesn’t have a gun because they’ll all be gone. What’s to stop someone from using a gun against someone who doesn’t have one?”

               “Human decency?” Benny smirked

               Lena smiled, “you’d rely on human decency to stop people using guns, but you still think we need guns to protect ourselves from each other?”

               Benny shuffled speechlessly, Lena knew she had won this. Someone in the audience spoke up, to Lena’s disdain, “what do you think Ethan?” Lena sighed, that’s just what this debate needs, a third opinion, and one from immature leader of the younger passengers at that. Needless to say Lena didn’t have much respect for the way Ethan had been using his influence. She had been so close.

               “Well,” Ethan said, drawing out the word as he pushed past Nora into the centre. “What’s the alternative? If we’re not handing them out we can’t just pretend they don’t exist?”

               “Of course not,” Lena replied, “we lock the door, don’t allow anyone in”

               “Then who gets the key? You? What’s to stop you from taking control of the entire ship if you’re the only one with access?”

               “Well I wouldn’t do something like that,” Lena replied, to late realising her mistake

               “So once again we’d be relying on human decency,” Ethan smirked, “I think we’ve already decided that’s not the best idea.”

               “So what’s your alternative?” Jonah asked

               “I agree with Benny,” Ethan replied, shocking everyone, including Benny, “free access”

               “You can’t be serious,” Nora said almost to herself

               “Why? Do you have a better idea, Inquisitor?”

               The room when silent. Everyone turned to her, their faces white. But shock wasn’t the worst thing Nora saw on their faces, not even fear. In some, like Jonah, she saw trust. With one word Ethan had given these people a reason to trust her, and that’s not something she could do. Not again. “Fine,” she said, glaring at Ethan with hatred, “do whatever you want.” She moved forward before anyone could stop her and grabbed a gun. For a second Ethan flinched, and that one victory made everything almost worth it. With one last glance around the still silent room she walked out towards the elevators.

               “Well,” said Benny as he clapped his hands loudly making everyone jump, “free access it is.”

…

               Ashley had lost the cat. Ashley had **_lost_** the **_cat_**. She had been worried carrying him around too much wasn’t healthy and set him down. And then one of the bar staff had suggested keeping him confined until he got used to one place as ‘home.’ Ashley turned around and sure enough Jasper had vanished. And Ashley was not happy.

               Isaac however, was very happy to have some company that didn’t interfere with him setting up his lab. Though not for lack of trying. But after he set a shallow beaker down with some water Ashley’s cat seemed quite content to just sit on a counter and purr periodically. Isaac had always loved the idea of small animals, but he’d never seen one outside the lab. Although technically he still hadn’t. But whereas the animals he had seen were for barbaric testing reasons this one was here for companionship. Isaac had never stayed long in a lab that used animals for testing. Which suited him fine considering his area of expertise had no correlation to animals.

               “Hey, have you seen-” Ashley started, turning into his lab suddenly. Her whole body visibly relaxed as she saw the cat, who leapt down from the counter to curl around her legs. “Oh my god, there you are,” Ashley sighed, picking him up, “I was _so_ worried”

               “I thought he looked familiar,” Isaac smiled, he remembered Ashley and her cat, and how annoyed Lena had been.

               “Oh yeah you’re that guy”

               “Ouch, so glad I made an impression”

               “Yeah, sorry, was kind of distracted by your rude friend,” Ashley smiled. She looked around the MPR Isaac had converted, curious about the strange things he had unpacked. “What is all this stuff?” she asked, picking up something

               Isaac rushed to put it back down before she broke it, “delicate, extremely delicate scientific equipment. This is going to be my lab,” Isaac gestured smiling

               “Oh good you’re a geek, I was worried my first impression might be insulting”

               Isaac’s smile dropped, “what? No! I mean, I’m cool,” Isaac tried to lean on a counter casually

               “Of course you are Isaac,” Ashley patted him on the shoulder, pouting.

               The both turned around as they heard a loud cheer from outside the lab. “What’s going on?” Isaac asked, craning his neck

               Ashley had already peeked round the corner to check, “some celebrity, I think its that Voltik singer”

               “Voltik?”

               “Yeah Voltik”

               “Who’s Voltik?”

               “You’re kidding me right? Voltik, the singer? I surprised they’re here”

               “Ah, that explains it, they don’t play a lot of modern music on V-Sats”

               “You were on a V-Sat?” Isaac had spent the last few years on a satellite, V-Sat 5, the furthest research satellite away from the core systems, almost brushing against the Veil at the edge of the galaxy. Isaac had watered at the mouth at the thought of studying the enigmatic veil, but that was strictly forbidden after the mysterious deaths of all who had tried. Instead his research was focused on how the galaxy moved and changed. At least, that’s how it had started.

“Look I’m gonna get out of here,” Ashley sighed, “I found the cat and I’m not a big fan of the music scene anyway”

               Isaac found that surprising but didn’t question it. He stopped her, “wait, I well, uh, I was thinking about checking out the bar once I get set up, meet up with a few people. Would you be up for it?”

               “Sure, whatever,” Ashley barely answered before she walked off.

               Isaac, smiled happily. He was going to make friends.

…

               Nora took the elevator to the agriculture sector. She knew they had sown all the seeds already, no one would be there until the crops started to grow, and she needed desperately to be alone. She shoved the gun into the back of her pants. She hadn’t chosen randomly, she knew every weapon in there back-to-front, but the standard was more than enough. Every Inquisitor knew that what really mattered in a firefight was the skill of the soldier, not the size of the weapon. And Nora _had_ been an Inquisitor. Once. But that was a long time ago, and she was never going to be that person again. Ever.

               “What the hell was that?” A voice practically screamed at her from across one of the fields. It was the woman from the gun room, Nora sighed. Solitude was more and more becoming a distant fantasy.

               “Sorry, who are you?”

               “I’m Lena, remember? One of the many people whose name you didn’t care to learn before you screwed us all over?”

               “Well I’m Nora, remember? One of the people whose name you didn’t learn before you tried to make decision for all of us?”

               “Oh _haha,_ let’s all laugh while Benny takes control of the ship and steals all the guns,” Lena was closer now, but she was still screaming

               “Oh? You should have grabbed one of these,” Nora held out her gun, “they can’t seize control of anything with a bullet in their brain.”

               Lena flinched as she pulled out her gun and Nora’s anger faltered for a second. It wasn’t like her finger was on the trigger, the barrel wasn’t even pointing towards her. But it didn’t take long for Lena to recover, although when she did speak she was calmer, “look, I don’t care what your damage is. Inquisitor or not people are going to trust your judgement. So do me a favour? Find an area far away from _any_ important decisions being made and stay there”

               “That’s what I was trying to do,” Nora muttered as she put her gun away

               “What?”

               “Look, I never asked to be a leader. I don’t _want_ to be a leader. So don’t worry, I won’t be running for school captain any time soon”

               “I’m sorry,” Lena replied, she seemed genuine, “maybe I read you wrong but regardless, people are going to look at you different now. I hope I can trust that you won’t react badly again and make a bad decision. I know Ethan riled you up but regardless, what happened today could have serious consequences”

               “I know, sorry. But as I said I don’t want to be a leader”

               “But you are”

               “But why?”

               Lena paused, and looked at Nora strangely, “I don’t know. People thought you are an Inquisitor so that might be it, but it’s more than that. You’ve got an air of confidence. I mean, I came up here, not even knowing your name, simply because after spending one minute in a room with you I could tell you were smarter than that”

               “Um,” Nora was a little shocked, Lena was more insightful than Nora gave her credit for. And that made Nora slightly uncomfortable. “Thanks?”

               Lena broke the eye contact she didn’t realise she was making and shook her head. “Look, whatever you decide to do, I hope I can trust you to not cause trouble”

               Nora frowned, “I’m not the one you have to worry about.” She had gone from flattered to insulted.

               “I know,” Lena smiled falsely, “I’m going to fix this mess, and that starts with the idiots who created it.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see the fall out of the previous chapter's events, and a few passengers try to find some common ground

               Nora looked around. She had been wandering aimlessly for hours, and had ended up back in the residential area. The three sectors were separated by long walkways filled with maintenance equipment, escape pods, and hatches. There were also high-speed elevators connecting the sections which most passengers used, but Nora needed a walk. She had made a habit of these walks the last few days, ever since The Incident. She also made a mental note that these passages would be a good escape for the other passengers in the more-than-likely scenario they get too annoying. Nora was so deep in thought she almost kept walking when she turned a corner and ran into a woman, knocking her off her feet.

               Nora had thought a lot about what happened on the ship, and what Lena had said. Her instincts told her to get involve, to help, to make the smart decisions when others wouldn’t. But every time she felt those instincts her heart beat faster, her breath got shorter, and she her palms started to sweat. The gun helped, made her feel safe. Except that the thought of her using it on someone who didn’t deserve it brought back all those feelings. She had been so sure that this break was what she needed. A year on a ship, alone. Except she wasn’t alone, everywhere she went there were people wanting to talk to her, get to know her, get her opinion. It was even worse since Ethan had called her Inquisitor. Word had spread quickly, and now some passengers actively sought her out to get her opinion, or increase their social status. To be the only one to have the ear of the elusive Inquisitor. Friends of Inquisitors had a lot of influence in the Empire.

               The worst of it was the ones who avoided her. Looked away when she walked past, only to stare after her. Ironically isolation was what she craved at first, but now it only reminded her of everything she had tried to leave behind. She clenched her fists at the thought of Ethan, the brat who had outed her to the whole ship. She shook her head and relaxed her fists, there was no point thinking about that now. However she made a promise to give Ethan a piece of her mind if she ever saw him again. And if she did see him again, it would be too soon.

               Nora didn’t recognise her, they’d never met but she could tell who it was from what she’d heard. It was Miranda, the “old woman” she had heard about. Looking at her now though she didn’t seem more than ten or so years older than Nora. However Nora could see why people referred to her that way. She was the oldest person on the ship but hardly decrepit. She wore a long thin coat, expensive yet old-fashioned jewellery, and carried several books around with her. She also wore her glasses around her neck on a long chain. “God, I’m sorry,” Nora sighed, helping her up

               “No it’s fine,” Miranda replied sweetly

               “These all yours?” Nora asked, picking up some of the books Miranda had dropped

               “Sort of, I’ve been making the rounds and collecting whatever people brought with them they’re willing to share. I’m going to start a sort of library in one of the multi-purpose rooms”

               “Really? Do you think that’s important?”

               “Perhaps it’s not important but we’re going to be here for a year we’re going to need some form of entertainment. At least for those craving more intellectual stimulation than what is found in young Ethan’s ‘game room.’ Besides, let’s just say it’s not in the most… _central_ of rooms. There weren’t many left close by”

               “Well, uh, good luck with that,” Nora turned to leave

               “Wait, you’re that Nora yes?”

               Nora sighed, she had hoped word of what had happened on the ship hadn’t spread this far. “Yes, I suppose I am”

               “Excellent, my name is Miranda, I heard about the incident on the ship”

               “Of course you have,” Nora muttered

               “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, perhaps the outcome would have been different”

               There were silent for a second. Nora considered leaving but it felt rude, and Miranda wasn’t the person anyone would consider being rude to.

               “So I heard you were from Archania?”

               “Jonah shared that around did he? I’ll have to thank him for that”

               “He’s a Seeker, poor man was shocked when he learned who you were.” She raised her hands, “he doesn’t have any ill will, he was surprised was all”

               “Fair enough I suppose, career Seekers end up worshiping Inquisitors more often than not. That’s not on accident either”

               Miranda smiled forcibly, “So… Archania. Seems like a good place to escape”

               Nora shot her a look and Miranda dropped the subject.

               “I hope you don’t blame yourself for the incident with the guns”

               “No it’s my fault,” Nora sighed again, sinking down on an empty cell’s bed. “I had the chance to stop what was happening and I didn’t”

               “Yes I heard, I wasn’t going to say anything,” Miranda gently sat down next to her, “but can I ask; is it true? Are you an Inquisitor?”

               She supposed the truth would have to come out eventually, “I was, once. But that was a long time ago”

               “I suppose you came here to escape”

               “No I escaped a long time ago. I was escaping from something else”

               “Its fine, I understand,” She patted Nora’s hand, which Nora found a tad condescending, “I won’t pry. I think everyone aboard is trying to escape from something.”

               “You? What’re you trying to escape from?”

               Miranda laughed, though it ended up more a sigh than a laugh, “progress I suppose”

               “You volunteered for an experiment testing the latest breakthrough in technology and infrastructure to get away from… progress. Smart”

               “Not progress in that sense. I lived on Verone for 59 years”

               “The first colony? Classy place”

               “Yes, I had a little store there, I sold books. History and culture. Until I was inevitably removed to make space for new housing. I was, of course, offered ‘comfortable’ living in compensation. But I am too young to be in a nursing home and too old to play the game again”

               “So you took the chance for a fresh, easy start”

               “Precisely. And you?”

               “People,” Nora frowned

“You were escaping... people?”

               “Yeah I just really wanted to be left alone”

               “And you chose this place? No offense but that is a tad naïve”

               “Excuse me?”

               “I’m sorry, what I meant was…” Miranda paused to consider her words, “in such a small community in which we rely on one another for food, entertainment, et cetera, we are bound to have an interest in each other’s lives. When you come to get some food people would wonder: who is this strange woman who appears and takes food she didn’t help produce. What is _she_ providing to the group? It’s a part of what this experiment is about”

               “Sure fine, I get you, I’ll play nice, I’ll work in the fields, I’ll even go get drunk with Jonah. The second they try and make me make decisions for them-or vice versa-I’m done”

               “You may not have much of a choice. Even I’m being looked at as a leader even though I didn’t ask for it”

               “Are you sure about that ‘Little Miss Librarian’”

               To Nora’s surprise she laughed at that, “I suppose it’s in my nature, just as it’s in yours. I can tell you’re not stupid, you’d make the right decisions, if you wanted to”

               “What be like Lena? I don’t care what people want. Benny’s just a thug not a real leader. And Ethan is just an idiot”

               “Then be their better,” Miranda was getting frustrated, and Nora was getting overwhelmed, “if you can see these people’s faults then be the leader they deserve”

               “I can’t do that! I won’t be a leader, I can’t!”

               “If you want my advice then you need to accept it,” Miranda kept a clam voice, she could tell this could be a turning point for Nora, “you have three choices here: you become a leader, and deal with the responsibility; you cut yourself off from everyone, radically, you don’t even speak to those you trust; or keep talking, keep making connections, but be clear you won’t make decisions. They may still turn to you, but as long as you are resolute one day they will stop. If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” Nora sighed again, this time contently. She hadn’t meant for this conversation to get so intense, but she was glad it did.

               “Well come on then,” Miranda stood up suddenly, grabbing her books, “you can help me with the library”

               “Thanks, but maybe another time,” Nora replied, “there’s someone else I need to talk to.”

…

               Lena was not happy, not in the slightest. She had met some really dodgy characters in her life. But few had riled her up as much as Benny had. When she came aboard the _Argonaut_ she was so excited, the chance to meet new people, to become a founder of a new community and have here own fields and gardens to plan out herself. She hadn’t expected to get so involved. To be fair she shouldn’t be surprised, she was never one to let other people make decisions for her, especially when those decision could have such a drastic effect. So she had slipped into the role of leader and she had even been comfortable in it. At least for a while. Then people like Benny and Ethan started disagreeing with her and undermining her decisions. Lena could sense she was losing influence. Deep down she hoped eventually the other passengers would realise how unreliable Benny and Ethan were. Then she could make things right.

               “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lena stormed into Benny’s storage room, making his two lackeys in the corner jump. Benny had taken her advice and set up his trading business in the storage section of the ring, he had taken over several compartments. Lena had been okay with this because it got him out of the way and they were mostly empty to begin with. But they weren’t empty now.

               “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Benny replied not even looking up from the papers he was working through. His two lackeys had stopped going through boxes and were staring, then quickly looked away as Lena glared back

               “When you were arguing for ‘free access’ to the guns do you know for a second I thought you legitimately believed in that”

               “Excuse me?” Benny feigned insult, his hand pressed into his chest dramatically

               “You really didn’t think I’d find out you took all the guns?”

               “No I knew. I just didn’t care”

               Lena scoffed, “so what’s the plan now? Sell them off to the highest bidder?”

               “That’s the idea,” Benny sighed as he went back to his work

               “Hey!” Lena stormed across the room and turned him around, “you may not _like_ me but you better show me some damn respect. At least _look_ at me when you’re talking to me”

               “Why should I? You have said anything worth listening to”

               Lena slapped him.

               Or at least, she wanted to. She forced herself to breath, calm down. She couldn’t risk overreacting right now, even though she probably already was. Benny was a pig. And now he was a pig that controlled almost every gun on the ship. “What is it going to take for you to not sell any one of those guns?” She spoke through clenched teeth

               “It’s too late for that,” Benny smirked back, “there’s already about twenty of them out there, not to mention the ones people took before I got them. But don’t worry,” he waved a pile of papers in Lena’s face, “I’ve got every single one of their name’s written down right here”

               Lena reached for them, but Benny pulled back. Lena sighed, “What do you want?”

               “I’ll make you a deal; you give me and my crew first pick of your harvest, I’ll let you take a peek at my list anytime you want”

               “We have to ration or there won’t be-”

               “Don’t worry,” Benny interrupted, “we won’t take more than our fair share. We’ll just take whatever we think looks nicest”

               Lena wondered why he would ask for that, Benny hardly seemed like he cared much about the quality of his food. Lena glanced behind him to the grinning faces of his workers. It was for them she realised. He’s going to get loyalty and influence from this, and more people will want to work for him with these sorts of benefits. Benny was smarter than she gave him credit for. But still, she knew if anything happened she needed to have access to that list. “Fine,” she conceded, holding her hands up, “but one more thing that I think he’ll both agree on”

               “Shoot”

               “Keep the large ordinance locked up, don’t sell stuff that could put a hole in the hull to some idiot who thinks the bigger the gun the better”

               “You know a lot about guns?”

               “Enough to know some of that stuff shouldn’t have been on this ship in the first place. Now do we have an agreement?”

               Benny paused for a second, “sure.” They shook on it and Lena left. As she walked away Benny was left wondering why a farmer from Alcinous would know so much about guns.

…

               Isaac didn’t know many other passengers. Apart from the few drawn by curiosity to his lab, and those like Lena who took it upon themselves to know everyone. He kept seeing small groups walk past his lab, and when he went to get food, or return to his cell he could see groups together, laughing. They were sharing stories, or playing games. Every time he saw them Isaac remember his friends on V-Sat-5. There were only four people on the entire satellite, so they had to be friendly for their sanity, and their work. The V-Sats were one of the few places in the Empire where you could find privacy, but they were only staffed by the most advanced scientists. However living on V-Sat and only communicating with the same three people for the last few years had left its impact on Isaac’s social skills. In the few months between his return to the core systems and the beginning of this experiment he hadn’t made any friends, or communicated with people at all apart from the necessary politeness. If he was being honest his application for this experiment was not just to complete his research in a lab he doesn’t have to share, but also to figure out how to be a part of a community again.

               Step one was making friends and actively trying to spend time with them. Isaac had invited Ashley to drinks, but he quickly realised that is hardly a group outing. Nora was scary-Isaac had finally learned her name after hearing the rumours-and didn’t seem the type for socialising. Lena was always busy either with the gardens or dealing with Benny’s rising influence. The only other person he had really talked to was Benny, and no. No. So eventually he just abandoned any pretence at dignity and just asked Ashley to invite some others. She hadn’t made fun of him as much as he thought she would. Which was somehow more embarrassing than if she had.

               He was nervous, shuffling in his chair at the table he’d reserved. Ashley finally turned up, dropping her cat down in the corner with a bowl of food. She’d brought somebody else with her, a man Isaac instantly recognising from his first encounter with Ashley. He was hard to forget. “Hi, I’m Jonah,” he said offering his hand across the table

               “Isaac,” he replied, shaking Jonah’s hand

               Jonah sat down across from Isaac. “What kind of drinks do they sell here anyway?”

               “Cheap ones, apparently good alcohol is not crucial to an interstellar colony”

               “I’ve heard they’re actually trying to convince Lena to plant some grape vines,” Ashley added. “I’ve also heard they haven’t been that successful”

               “They’ve even asked if I packed anything that could be diluted, to bad I’m more physicist than chemist”

               “Well I better go check out what they _do_ have then,” Jonah stood and walked over to the bar

               “Did you invite anyone else?” Isaac asked

               “A few, most are busy. Ethan said he might turn up though” Ashley replied

               “Ethan. Isn’t that the gun guy?”

               “Yeah. He’s not as bad as his people think,” Ashley narrowed her eyes, “sort of.” Ashley had met Ethan early on after meeting Jonah. They hit it off well but even Ashley had to admit he could be irritating. And he knew it.

               Jonah came back holding three drinks. Which were terrible, but helped with the atmosphere. It wasn’t long until Isaac felt comfortable with the conversation, while at first it was mainly led by Ashley and Jonah in a few minutes he felt just as involved. His smiles were no longer polite, instead they were genuine.

               A few minutes later another man walked in and Ashley waved him over. Isaac assumed this was Ethan. He waved at a few others on the way other, even stopped to briefly chat with a few, flashing charismatic smiles the whole time. Isaac could tell he was well-liked. While Isaac didn’t exactly want to make decisions or be a leader he was pretty good at sensing who had influence with who. Benny attracted the greedy, Miranda attracted the traditional, Lena attracted the hopeful. And Ethan attracted the young, the “cool.” Isaac wondered where Ashley and Jonah stood. And hoped he would never have to pick a side.

               “Hey guys,” Ethan said sitting down.

               Isaac couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t introduce himself, or try for a handshake. “I’m Isaac”

               “Thought so, surprised to see you out of your lab”

               “Excuse me?”

               “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, how you doing? What’re you drinking?”

               “He’s already got a drink,” Jonah interrupted

               “Right. I guess you’re still mad about the whole gun thing then?”

               “You mean you ignoring all logic and handing over all control to a greedy maniac?”

               “Hey I didn’t tell him to take them!”

               “No but you didn’t stop him either”

               “Guys!” Ashley shouted, making the cat jump, “we’re here to let of some steam. Think you could lay off the ‘Fate of the Colony’ crap?”

               “Sure,” they both replied

               “I’m gonna get a drink,” Ethan left

               “I can’t believe you invited that guy,” Jonah whispered to Ashley

               “Hey he’s not that bad! Just give him a chance okay?”

               “I suppose people would hardly trust his opinion if he wasn’t at least nice,” Isaac reasoned

               “Oh cause Benny’s such a sweetheart,” Jonah retorted

               “No people look to Benny because of what he can offer them in return”

               “So he bribes them?” Ethan added, sitting down with his drink.

               The other three looked sheepishly at each other. They hadn’t noticed him walk up, and it was pretty obvious they’d been talking about him behind his back. “For lack of a better term, yes,” Isaac replied

               Jonah sighed, “So what did you used to do before the _Argonaut_ , Ethan?”

               “Me? I was an event planner”

               “You mean you went to parties,” Isaac laughed

               “True, but at least I planned them beforehand”

               “What about you two?” Isaac gestured to Jonah and Ashley with his drink

               “I-” Ashley hesitated, “was a mechanic”

               “I didn’t know that,” Ethan said

               “There’s a lot you don’t know, Ethan,” she smirked

               “What about you Jonah?” Isaac asked

               “I was a Seeker, thought everyone knew”

               “Yeah I did hear the rumour, I just didn’t want to assume…”

               “It’s fine, it’s no secret I just wish that wasn’t the first thing people say about me.” The rest of the group nodded and agreed, but then fell into an uncomfortable silence.

               “So,” Ashley broke the silence, “what is everyone going to miss back home?”

               “Pool parties”

               “Particle accelerators”

               “Pizza,” Jonah said

               “Pizza? Really?” Isaac replied

               “What did you expect me to say guns or something?”

               “To be honest, yes,” Ethan laughed

               “You don’t think they’re going to make pizza when they harvest?” Ashley asked, devastated at the thought

               “With Lena running the gardens I think greasy foods’ off the table”

               “You never know, maybe _you_ can convince her,” Isaac laughed.

               They were interrupted by a scream that sent Ashley’s cat leap away. A woman ran into the bar and grabbed the nearest person, “help, please!” she sobbed, “h-he’s been shot!” She was almost incoherent. They didn’t hesitate before following the woman. It wasn’t far, and as they got closer they saw a large pool of blood. What they saw was unmistakable. Isaac’s hairs stood on end. Someone had been shot. Someone had been murdered.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The passengers react to a sudden murder as Nora tries to find a place aboard the Argonaut

               “Hey, can I talk to you?”

               “Nora?” Lena was surprised, to say the least, to hear Nora so polite. And even… nervous? “Uh, sure, what do you need?”

               Nora drew the curtains across. Many people had been surprised and annoyed by the lack of privacy the cell’s afforded and had taken to correcting that using whatever they could. Some had used boxes or luggage to lessen the exposure, but most like Lena had used a spare sheet or two as a door. Inside her cell looked more like an office than a bedroom. A desk and multiple boxes filled with paper took up most of the space. Lena packed up the messy folder full of papers she was working on. Plans for the gardens. That was the one area where she hadn’t had to fight for control, the others interested conceded to her extensive experience on Alcinous.

               “It’s not so much something I need, but something I want”

               “Uh,” Lena blinked, “Sorry?”

               “Ugh,” Nora sat on Lena’s bed, “look, when I first got here I tried to distance myself. From everyone”

               “Yeah we noticed”

               “Could you not? This is hard enough”

               “Fine,” Lena held up her hands, but what could she want that made her so nervous?

               “So I distanced myself because I wanted some privacy, but more than that I didn’t want people looking to me to make decisions”

               “No offense Nora but we’ve already talked about this”

               “You know what? This was a bad idea,” Nora shook her head as she got up to leave.

               Lena almost let her, but she could tell she was in a crisis. And more than that whatever Nora said Lena couldn’t shake the feeling that Nora had the potential to change things on the ship. To take control in a way Lena couldn’t. “Wait, I’m sorry,” Lena gently grabbed Nora’s arm, “I’ll let you finish”

               Nora lent her back on a wall, arms crossed, “I don’t want to be a leader, but I’ve realised that shutting myself off from everyone…” she laughed, “apparently all that does is make me seem like some wise hermit”

               Lena laughed at the thought, “So… how can _I_ help?”

               “Well I’ve been told I should find a middle ground. Somewhere between leader and hermit”

               “So you… want to be my… _friend?_ ”

               “I…suppose? I mean to be honest I tried to find Isaac first, but he’s not at his lab”

               “Oh yeah, he’s having some gathering at the bar, He didn’t invite you?”

               “We may not have gotten off to the best of starts. Wait he didn’t invite _you_?”

               “Oh no he did, I’m just busy with some garden work”

               “Oh crap and I just completely interrupted you with my identity crisis, sorry”

               Lena laughed, a warm laugh, “It’s fine, really, I could use the distraction.” She sighed, her smile dropping, “but I really should get back to work”

               “Its fine, thanks for the talk”

               “Well hey, maybe you could come back in a few hours? We could have a drink?”

               “Sure,” Nora left for a second before turning back, “and um, sorry again. About the whole gun thing”

               “Its fine,” Lena replied, “really. But…”

               “What is it?”

               “Look, you’ve made it clear you don’t want any part in decision making, but that doesn’t mean people won’t turn to you. I’m not saying you have to be leader but just… point them in my direction okay? It’s the least you could do”

               “I don’t want to get caught up in politics,” Nora began, before she saw the way Lena tensed up, “but sure, I suppose there’s no harm. You seem to know what you’re doing”

               “Why thank you.”

               Nora left, and Lena sat trying to figure her out. Was Nora actually sincere? Does she mean to be as condescending as she comes off? Lena decided that one day she’ll ask Nora why she’s like this. One day.

…

               Ashley froze. Isaac ran to a bin and vomited. Jonah rushed forward and knelt by the man. Ethan looked as if he was ready to bolt. “Give me your jacket!” Jonah yelled

               “I-” Ethan stuttered

               “Your jacket, now!”

               “Ethan!” Ashley cried, pulling at his arm. Ethan finally pulled off his jacket, never taking his eyes off the man. Jonah grabbed it and held it against the man’s wound. The girl who had found the body was still crying, and eventually ran off. “Go after her, she might’ve seen something” Jonah said

               “What?” Ethan stared at him

               “Now, Ethan, go!”

               Ethan ran after her, narrowly avoiding another man walking the other way. A small crowd had gathered, the man pushed through. “I’m a doctor, let me through!” he yelled, “what happened here?”

               “He’s been shot, I don’t know how long ago”

               Ashley recognised the doctor, from the bar. “Wait _you’re_ a doctor?”

               He ignored her, rubbing his hand on the man’s chest, “Guy, Guy can you hear me it’s Elliot”

               No response. Elliot felt for a pulse before leaning back with a sigh. “He’s gone.”

The crowd that had gathered in silence was suddenly full of noise, gasping, crying and whispering. Jonah hung his head. The doctor stood and looked at the crowd, “how did this happen?”

               “I don’t know,” Jonah responded, “but I intend to find out.” He pushed through the crowd ready to storm into Benny’s storage unit. Be stopped when he saw Isaac sitting with his back against the wall, head in his hands. Jonah almost left him, but something stopped him. He slid down and sat down next to him.

               “Are you alright?” He asked quietly

               “I have... never seen so much blood,” he could barely hear Isaac speak, “the smell-”

               “Hey,” Jonah grabbed his shoulder, “try not to think about it”

               “It’s hard not to”

               They were silent for a moment

               “I take it you weren’t a soldier during your service?”

               Isaac laughed, “that would’ve been something,” his face fell again, he had to force himself to breath, “no I was an RTD, refining navigation calculations”

               “Well, I’d say you’d get used to it, but I hope to god you don’t have to,” Isaac looked at him, and Jonah forced a smile, “is there anything I can do?”

               “Just… don’t leave me alone yeah?”

               “Sure. Come on, lets head back to the bar, a drink will make us both feel better.”

               Ashley watched Elliot grab a blanket from an empty cell and helped him cover the body. The blanket stuck to the ground where It touched the pool of blood. She didn’t stand up, just knelt by the dead man’s head and let her tears dry. “You knew him?”

               “Sort of,” Elliot answered, “we talked a bit at the bar”

               “Before you got plastered you mean”

               “Is that supposed to be funny?”

               “Maybe if you weren’t hung over-”

               “You’re kidding me, right? Do you see the amount of blood? Maybe if I wasn’t so hung over I wouldn’t have even bothered checking for a pulse!” The crowd had dispersed by now, though a few remained, huddled in corners whispering.

               Ashley spoke again, “I’m sorry”

               “You’re looking for someone to blame, I get it”

               “But you weren’t the one that shot him, I’m sorry”

               “Its fine, I didn’t exactly make the best impression”

               “It’s no excuse, I’m sorry”

               Elliot narrowed his eyes, “I think you’re in shock, you need to lie down”

               “No. I need to find who did this.”

…

               Ethan almost got lost chasing after the woman who found the body. His mind was racing, and the only thing that kept him from breaking is the task he was given. He followed her through residential sector. He had almost caught with her too before she made it into the elevator and closed the doors behind her. Now he had to wait for it to come back up. That gave Ethan time to calm down. He realised how useless he had been and almost punched a wall. Even Ashley, distraught as she had been, had been more useful than he had. By the time the elevator doors opened his breathing had slowed, and he had stopped shaking.

               He hadn’t seen much death in his time on the heavily policed Veria c. It was meant to be paradise, the fun and perfect counterpart to the austere and important capital on Veria b. During his service however he saw a few bodies, but still less than most. He had been posted so far away from the core systems that even pirates and raiders had nothing to raid. They were there as a military patrol of the veil. Which was more of a ceremonial post than anything, nothing ever come through from whatever empty void lay on the other side. There were stories of course, children’s fantasies of monstrous aliens come to steal naughty kids. But every reasonable adult knew there was nothing on the other side. If there was the Empire would have conquered it and colonized it by now.

               The elevator reached the centre ship, but when the doors opened there was no sign of the woman. Ethan walked around the cargo bay. Through the windows he could see she wasn’t in any of the other storage rooms. He kept walking through the ship. He eventually found her in the cockpit, curled up on one of the chairs. Ethan took a deep breath, and calmly sat down on the chair opposite it. “Are you alright. I mean… are you hurt?”

               The woman’s head shot to the side as she heard him. “no, I’m fine”

               “Did you know him?”

               She shook her head, “no, but I-I had seen him before, his cell is near mine…. Is he…?”

               “I’m not sure but it didn’t look good. I’m sorry”

               “There was so much blood… he couldn’t have survived that”

               Ethan sighed, and reached out his hand, “come on, you shouldn’t be alone down here”

               “Don’t touch me!”

               “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Ethan paused, he wasn’t sure what to say, “what’s your name?”

               “…Claire”

               “Ethan”

               “I know”

               “Oh?”

               “Your kind of famous… for the gun thing.” She sat up more and looked at him with her mouth wide open. She found her words again, “oh my god this is all your fault”

               “What? How could I have known this would happen?”

               “You let people get guns someone’s going to get shot. That should’ve been obvious”

               “Hey you weren’t there”

               “No one was, didn’t stop you from making a decision for everyone though did it?”

               “I don’t have to explain myself to you”

               “Of course not. A man’s dead but that’s not your problem”

               “Just… I’m sorry, you’re right,” Ethan shuffled on his feet. “I don’t know how I should feel. I made a decision, and now someone’s most likely dead… and it’s my fault”

               “Do you want me to feel sorry for you? Forgive you?”

               “No… I made a mistake, I have to put it right”

               “How?”

                Ethan stood, “…I’m gonna make someone pay.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions rise on board as the passenger's search for answers.

               “What the hell just happened?”

               “Lena!” Ashley and Elliot had taken the body to the MPR Elliot had set up as a clinic. An MPR that would now serve as a morgue. Shortly after Nora left Lena’s cell she had come running back with news, someone had been shot. Lena had already been to the place he was shot and saw the blood, she didn’t need to be told he was dead. “Wait what’s she doing here?” Ashley had noticed Nora hovering just outside the clinic

               “Um…” Lena started, then leant closer to Nora, “why are you here? If you want to get involved be my guest but I thought you wanted to stay out of things”

               Nora looked at her, then back at Ashley, “someone’s been shot, I’d like to know if there was some reason it was him specifically or if I have to start worrying about some murderous lunatic with a gun”

               “Yeah there’s already one of those around here,” Elliot said under his breath. He suddenly realised what he had said and stiffened, “uh, sorry… I meant-well, word gets around you know”

               Nora stared at him, then turned to Lena, “Let me know if there’s any trouble okay?”

               “Sure”

               “Wow, real smooth,” Ashley elbowed Elliot as Nora left

               “I’m sorry that wasn’t smart. But what was she even doing here?”

               “Trying to figure what happened like the rest of us,” Lena said

               “From what I heard that’d be the last thing I expected her to do. I mean, isn’t her whole deal that she wants to be left alone?” Ashley said

               “No one wants to be murdered Ashley, not even Nora. Which brings us back to this,” Lena gestured at the body, trying to keep from retching.

               Elliot had gotten to work pulling fragments of bullets from the body, and there was a lot. The Empire used cheap but effective materials for their ammunition, the guns themselves were loaded with a solid block of metal. Then, depending on the weapon that metal was broken down, melted, or fired in its entirety. This meant ammunition was much easier to produce when compared to the much older method of crafting bullets. It also was possible to use any material as ammunition, however the mix of metals the Empire used for ammunition had the best combination of range, density, and potential for damage. That terrible potential was on full display in Elliot’s clinic.

               Now that he had cleared the blood away the wound was clear for Lena to see and it was… grotesque. “Does anything here help us figure out what happened?” She asked

               “Sort of,” Elliot sighed, “I’m no forensic expert. Most of what I dealt with was flus and broken bones. Most of what I can tell is what literally anyone could tell you”

               “Well enlighten me”

               “He was shot through his chest. Obviously because that’s where the entry wounds are. There’s no damage anywhere else so he wasn’t in a fight… or if he was I can’t tell-I’m really just guessing here Lena”

               “What should we do with the body?” Ashley stared at the man’s face

               “We could freeze it for burial when this is over I guess” Elliot said

               “Well the only other option would be a pirate’s funeral,” Lena added.

               Elliot went cold at that, “I have to go”

               “Elliot?” Ashley went to go after him, but he was already gone into the maze of blocks

               “Why would that set him off?”

               “Oh,” Ashley drew out the word, “‘Scared of space’”

               “Huh?”

               “Nothing.” A pirate’s funeral had become the term for when a body is ejected from a ship, usually to burn up in a star or to be torn apart by the force of hyperspeed. Some found it poetic.

               “What do we do now?” Ashley asked

               “You want to help?”

               “Can’t exactly brush this off, can I?”

               “Fair enough, come on I’ve got an idea.”

…

               Jonah had caught up with Ethan as he returned from the centre ship. He had hoped Ethan had gotten something out of the witness, something that would resolve this mess neatly. No such luck. “Her names Claire,” Ethan said, “she didn’t see anything”

               “Are you okay?” Jonah asked

               “What?”

               “You seem…I don’t know, upset I guess”

               “Someone’s dead”

               “It feels like more than that”

               “Someone’s dead and… and its my fault,” Ethan admitted

               “What? You can’t take the blame for this. Unless you were the one who shot him”

               “I was the one who convinced people to spread the guns around”

               “Yeah and that was stupid, but not evil.”

               Jonah stopped him. They had both been making their way to the storage section to confront Benny. “Look,” Jonah started, “you made a mistake. It happens. And now someone’s dead. But if you take all the blame for this now there’s never going to be any end for this for you”

               “But-”

               “Trust me… I know”

               Ethan was quiet, “What do you blame yourself for?”

               Jonah sighed, “Let’s just say I didn’t always agree with what the Seekers did. I am still loyal, don’t get me wrong I’m still a soldier. But I came here to be more than that and that means working through things”

               “You coming boys?” Ashley pushed past them, followed by Lena

               “Ashley?” Jonah was worried how much they heard. As well as annoyed they had interrupted his chance to calm down Ethan. “You good?” he asked

               “I will be,” Ethan replied.

               They followed Lena and Ashley into Benny’s storage room. When they entered Benny was already waiting for them, sitting quietly at his desk, two of his men behind him. “You know what I’m here for,” Lena said

               “The list, obviously,” Benny answered, “I heard what happened. Tragic”

               “A tragedy that could have been avoided,” Ashley said

               “I didn’t make anyone pull that trigger”

               “No you just put the gun in their hands,” Jonah had to resist the urge to punch him

               “I see you’re very quiet back there,” Benny looked at Ethan

               “Give them the list, Benny”

               “I thought we were together on this,” Benny clenched his fist

               “We made a mistake,” Ethan said

               “You’re certainly making one now”

               “The list, Benny, now!” Lena interrupted them.

_What was that about?_ Jonah thought. He knew Benny was trying to gather power and influence over the other passengers but the way Benny was talking meant something had changed. Where before the struggle was over who people trusted, it seemed more and more that factions were emerging. No one had even tried to appeal to Benny’s goons, they were no longer fellow passengers to be reasoned with but loyal workers in Benny’s machine. Ethan came with his own followers, and he had just jumped ship. This was heading down a dangerous path. Benny handed them the list.

               “Jonah what the hell?” Ashley shoved him

               “Sorry, what?”

               “Why is your name on this list?” Lena spoke quietly

               “Lena-I… look I’m one of the few people actually trained on this ship”

               “Still you bought a gun from this guy?” Ashley asked

               “He knows better than the rest of you apparently,” Benny laughed

               “Shut up,” Jonah retorted, “look I should’ve grabbed a gun when we first found them”

               “Why?” Lena asked

               “Look I know it might seem like I’ve betrayed you”

               “Because you have,” Ashley interrupted

               “But this isn’t a game. Someone’s already been shot I want to be able to protect myself, and the others!”

               “Look this doesn’t matter,” Ethan interjected, “Jonah’s not a suspect he was at the bar at the time. So were me, Isaac, and Ashley. Let’s focus on finding the shooter before we start arguing about the guns.”

               “Fine,” Lena conceded, then turned to Benny, “but once this is all over you’re locking up these guns”

               “Like hell I am,” he responded

               “Another time, Lena,” Ethan called. Her, Ashley, and Jonah left, but Ethan glared at Benny for a moment longer.

               “This isn’t over,” Benny said

               “You goddamn right about that,” Ethan responded.

…

               “Do you know anything about cats?”

               “What?”

               “I found Ashley’s ‘friend’ roaming the walls,” Nora said, “not surprised it got lost in all the commotion”

               “Well why come to me?” Isaac replied

               “Ashley seems… busy. Thought you guys were friends,” Nora paused, “are you alright?”

               Isaac looked down at himself. He was in his lab, sitting on his chair, and before Nora came in he had been staring blankly at his equipment. He tried to shake himself out of it, “Sorry. Where did you find him?”

               “Well after a fun conversation I was headed back to the bar when I saw this guy.” What Nora didn’t tell him was that she had almost left him there, until pity as well as her conscience told her to help the kitten out. Besides, there was another reason for her coming to see Isaac.

               “Look, I wanted to apologise”

               “Huh? What for?”

               “I was… rude to you back on the dock”

               “You mean,” Isaac stood out of his chair, “when you saved me from a security guard? When you did me a huge favour?”

               Nora laughed, “No I mean when I didn’t give you my name”

               “Oh. That. I just thought you were being…well yeah okay you were being rude. But if anything it just made you seem more enigmatic”

               “A wise recluse,” Nora set the cat down on the bench

               “Huh?”

               “Nothing, just something people used to say”

               “On Archania yeah?”

               “Wow someone was murdered but my history is still a hot topic huh? Lucky me”

               “Sorry… did you want to talk about it?”

               “No not really”

               “Right,” Isaac sat back down.

               Nora could see Isaac return to the state he was in when she entered. He reminded her of the RTDs back when she was an Inquisitor. Always so pleased at finding new ways to kill people. Always so shocked to see it happen. Isaac wasn’t totally like them though, Nora thought, he hadn’t sold his soul completely yet. He needed a distraction though, “So, what are you working on?” She asked

               “Um… I was trying to set up this receiver to link with the _Argonaut’s_ sensors. Their all blocked off though, both wires and wi-fi.” He wacked the side of the machine, “All this is basically useless now”

               “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Nora tried to reassure him

               “Thanks,” Isaac smiled, trying to make it seem genuine.

               “Hey Isaac!” A voice shouted from out the corridor, and it was closely followed by Jonah running in. “Oh, Nora,” Jonah visibly stiffened at seeing her

               Nora recognised the change. It wasn’t someone uncomfortable with her presence, it was a soldier standing at attention in front of an officer. “At ease, Seeker,” Nora said

               Despite his grunt of protest he did seem to relax a bit, “Sorry, force of habit”

               “Yeah well stop it”

               “Jonah,” Isaac interrupted, “did you need something?”

               “Isaac, yes, we had an idea”

               “We?” Nora folded her arms. She was ironically uncomfortable at how Jonah acted around her.

               “Ashley and I thought you might be able to help with the investigation”

               Isaac went cold

               “You know, some of your equipment might be helpful?”

               “Where is Ashley anyway?” Nora asked

               “She’s off looking for her cat… who is right here,” Jonah picked up the cat, “I’ll be back.”

               “Wait,” Nora grabbed his arm and pulled him close. “Are you sure this is such a good idea? He’s not exactly a Seeker, or an RTD,” she whispered

               “He’ll be fine,” Jonah said back, “I trust him”

               “Oh?” Nora raised an eyebrow

               “I’ll do it,” Isaac responded, Nora could see something in his eyes she hadn’t seen before. Her eyebrow rose higher.

               “I knew you could,” Jonah said before rushing back out again.

               Nora couldn’t help but notice that Isaac’s eyes followed Jonah as he left. And that Jonah glanced back as he left. “What’s that about?” she asked

               “What?”

               “Nothing. Are you sure you’re good to do this?”

               Isaac took a deep breath, “Yes. I’ll need to modify some of my equipment, and it won’t be a quick process. But I’ll get it done”

               “What about your work. What were you researching anyway?”

               “Its… complicated. And it can wait, a murderer on the loose is much more important.” Isaac got to work immediately, grabbing a screw driver he started taking apart some of his machines.

               “Well,” Nora said, “I’m gonna go”

               “Nora,” Isaac stopped her, “thank you. I’m glad you’re becoming less… you know, enigmatic”

               Nora smiled back, it was almost even genuine, “Okay. I’m going to go get drunk.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two passengers find a new way to deal with stress that could have consequences. While two other passengers make an important discovery.

              “Well, that’s the last one,” Ashley sighed, “all gun owners accounted for”

              “So this has all been pointless?” Lena said, throwing open the curtains and flopping down on her bed. They had spent almost a day searching through the ship for the people Benny sold guns to, but none knew anything about the shooting. Nothing they were willing to share anyway. At the very least they had managed to convince several of them to give back their guns. Of course, after Lena had offered to pay the back what they payed for them. Most, however, where even more desperate for protection after one man had already been murdered. Jonah had kept his gun as well, but Lena begrudgingly admitted that is was probably for the best. She just wished he hadn’t got it from Benny.

              “Hey they all have alibis… or at least whatever constitutes an alibi when the Seekers are replaced by a mechanic and a gardener”

              “Yeah, we’ll have to get Jonah to check everything over. I don’t feel like anyone was lying though, it was just a dead end”

              “Well hey, at least we’ve got Isaac on the case. He’ll find something for sure,” Ashley sat next to her.

              “So we just wait then? I’m not good with waiting,” Lena stood back up again suddenly

              “Aren’t you from Alcinous? Don’t you spend your time literally waiting for things to grow?”

              “It was a little more complex than that,” Lena shuffled her feet, “besides it wasn’t like we had a murderer running loose”

              Ashley turned her head, “Still though. No offense but you don’t…feel like someone from Alcinous”

              “Huh?”

              “I spent a lot of time with people delivering produce from there. You’re not like them”

              “They delivered produce… to the ship you were on? Must’ve been a big ship”

              “I meant… I mean… What I meant to say was our ship carrying a lot of produce from Alcinous and I got to know the people there. That’s all,” Ashley crossed her arms

              Lena paused for a second, then laughed, “how about we just drop the whole topic shall we?”

              “Agreed,” Ashley laughed back.

              They sat in silence for a while, then Lena stood again and poured some drinks. “Didn’t think you were one to stock alcohol,” Ashley said, but she took the glass anyway

              “I’m not. This is a gift from Bart the barman for dealing with a Benny problem. He resented someone else making money off of us,” Lena poured one for herself too

              “Oh, fancy”

              “Hardly, it’s the cheap stuff.”  They clinked their glasses and drank, both women almost spit it back out again. “The very cheap stuff,” Lena laughed

              “Yeah but it does the trick,” Ashley added, taking another swig. “So, what are we going to do?”

              “There’s nothing we can do. Except try and stop it from happening again”

              “No, I meant in the meantime. I mean we got on this ship, we set up some stuff, now someone’s dead and we just… go back to what we were doing?”

              “I guess, I mean there’s not much to do in the garden anyway, a lot of stuff is automated and until we get into a harvest cycle… God what am I going to do?”

              “Hey at least you’re waiting to do something productive. What did I do this last week? Revived a cat”

              “Hey maybe you can join me in the garden?”

              Ashley snorted mid-sip

              “No I’m serious, when its time for harvest it can be cathartic. A kind of stress-relief”

              “I can think of much better ways to relieve stress”

              “Like what?”

              Ashley stared at her for a moment. “Close those curtains and you’ll find out.”

              Lena blinked in surprise. Then got up and closed the curtains.

…

              About an hour later Jonah came around searching for Lena. But instead he found her cell curtains closed and the light above it turned off. Which had quickly become a signal for someone sleeping or… something else.

              Jonah made a face somewhere between a smirk and a grimace and then walked the other way.

…

              “What are you doing down here?” Ethan asked

              “Huh?” Claire answered, she looked around the cockpit, “thinking”

              “Well now that you’re here, how are you?” Ethan started. In truth he had been searching for her. He may not be able to make any progress finding the murderer but he had to do something to help with his guilt.

              “I’m fine,” Claire smiled, but it wasn’t convincing, “I didn’t really know him I was just… shocked is all”

              “Okay,” Ethan decide not to pry, “well you chose well, it’s a good place to think”

              “Oh I’m not thinking as in “thinking” I’m thinking as in… thinking,” Claire made a gesture with her hands

              “Thinking… about what?”

              Claire tapped on the wall, “I think there’s a room missing here”

              “What-really?” Ethan tapped on the wall as well. It made a hollow sound. He stepped back and noted that while the other side of the room had a larger space with room for an escape pod (which hadn’t been included in case the passengers decided to leave before the experiment was over), this side of the room was abruptly shorter. The shape and texture of the wall was different than the rest of the cockpit’s as well. “This was built to cut something off,” Claire added, kicking at the wall

              “The computer,” Ethan said

              “What?”

              “Every ship has to have a large computer system; the other smaller systems connect to it but he big one deals with data storage and a ton of other stuff. I’ve been looking for it”

              “Why?”

              “I just noticed it was missing is all”

              “Liar,” Claire laughed

              “What?” Ethan took two steps back

              “You’re lying! You’re here for the same reason I am”

              “…Which is?”

              “You want to mess with their experiment”

              “What!” That was not what Ethan was expecting

              “C’mon, they’re so pretentious. They expand to the point of overpopulation, they create a massive divide between the systems even though there’s plenty of space in their fancy mansions. Then what they bring out these fancy new ships and pretend like it’s some big solution? Tell me, how much do you think they’re going to charge for a cell on one of these things?” Clair just got more and more worked up. Although, as she spoke, a smile – an honest one – never left her face.

              “You’re… a bit of an anarchist aren’t you?” Ethan had met a few people like Claire. Sons and daughters of big-wigs forced to come to his parties when all they really wanted to do was rush off to Eutropia and save lives. Ethan had never given them the time of day, but Claire seemed different.

              She shrugged playfully, “I like to think of myself as more of a hacktivist”

              “And exactly how did they let you on this ship”

              “Easy. They don’t know who I am. It’s very easy to be invisible on a system like Polis”

              “High class enough not to be heavily policed busy enough to be lost in a crowd eh?”

              “Sounds like you’ve done you’re fair share of vanishing”

              “You could say that,” Ethan smirked

              “Ooh, enigmatic. I like it. Well, anyway, yes I’m a hacker”

              “A hacker. So what’s behind this wall is sorta like the heavens for you?”

              “Yeah if I can get in there,” Claire tapped on the metal again, “seems pretty solid”

              “I’ll help you”

              “What-huh? You will?”

              “Don’t sound so surprised,” Ethan laughed

              “Well, it’s just that most people aren’t exactly jumping at the chance to help out a hacker. Only reason I told you is because there’s no Seekers here to arrest me,” Claire paused, “except Jonah but I think he’s got bigger priorities”

              “Well I won’t to help. Besides, I want to be there if you accidentally blow up the ship. I’ll know who to blame”

              Claire laughed, “Alrighty then, let’s crack this thing open.”

              They high-fived and stared at the wall.

              “Just one thing…How exactly do we crack this thing open?”

…

              Ashley threw open the curtains and took a deep breath. She had really needed that. Turning around for a quick wink she closed them again and walked off toward her own cell. She had never been one for such encounters back on Dorika, there weren’t many options. Customers or business owners always looked down on her, and that was definitely not what she wanted. There were the other workers but most, including Ashley, were too busy or too tired to even consider it. There had, however, been one – “Hey!” Ashley thoughts were interrupted as someone grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Nora.

              “Hey,” Ashley pushed off his hand, “the hell do you want?”

              “What was that?” Nora asked

              “What was what?”

              “In there. With Lena”

              “Oh,” Ashley grimaced, “do I really have to spell it out for you?”

              “No… look I’m not judging its just… we need to be careful”

              “You, what?” Ashley turned bright red, “we… were care-”

              “No, no. Ew. What I meant was… look you must be able to tell there’s going to be struggle for control on this ship”

              “What do you mean “going to be”? There already is one”

              “Worse than this. Benny is… not rational, but he is smart. That makes him dangerous”

              “And what do I have to do with any of this?”

              “Things like this can make Lena vulnerable. If she cares about you-”

              “Nora, really its fine. It was a one off”

              “Oh,” for the first time since Ashley meant her Nora looked embarrassed, “sorry I just assumed”

              “It’s fine”

              “But still this is still dangerous. Benny could still use this against her”

              “And I intend to” the two women turned, but it was obvious it was Benny.

              “What the hell are you doing here?” Ashley asked, but she couldn’t help turning red again, wondering how much he heard

              “I heard Lena was interrogating my customers, wanted to have a few words,” Benny smirked, “seems she was… preoccupied”

              “Back off Benny,” Nora said, “this has nothing to do with you”

              “Oh? I thought I was “dangerous””

              “You heard her Benny,” Ashley tried to appear tall, “get the hell out of here”

              Benny looked at her. “No, I’ll think I’ll have words with our fearless leader,” Benny pushed past them.

              He didn’t get far though, because as he walked past Nora pushed forward, grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. “You’re not going anywhere,” She said

              “Nora what the hell!” Ashley yelled

              “Let go of me!” Benny squirmed

              She let him go.

              Instantly he pulled out a gun and held it to her head. “Oh my god,” Ashley just managed to hold in a scream

              “What the hell is wrong with you!” Benny screamed at Nora

              “It’s nothing more than you deserve,” Nora replied, not moving

              “Nora for gods’ sake just apologise!” Ashley pleaded

              Nora just stared at him. “Go on then,” she said

              “What?” Benny’s hand started to shake

              “Do it. We’ll have one more murderer to put away”

              “Oh god,” Ashley couldn’t but sob.

              But Nora just kept eye contact with Benny. And Benny stared back, but where Nora was solid and determined, Benny was shaking and baring his teeth. He dropped the gun. “Fine, I’ll let that slide,” he turned away, “but you’ll pay for this, one day.”

              “What is your problem?” Ashley screamed at Nora, shoving her as soon as Benny disappeared from view

              “He was never going to shoot,” she replied

              “He wouldn’t have even pulled his gun out if you hadn’t attacked him!”

              “I know, I’m sorry”

              “You know, I think I liked it better when you didn’t get involved,” Ashley said, then walked off, rubbing her eyes

              “Me too,” Nora mumbled. It was too late now, she knew that. She was involved, otherwise why would she have reacted like that? Why would she have warned Ashley? She knew this feeling, protective, worried. She remembered it from her time as an Inquisitor. Except now it was different. Now there was something else.

              Nora had instantly regretted her actions. She knew with a man like Benny any insult like that was bound to have consequences. Her instincts told her to end this conflict right then. However, something else deep inside her, something she had buried so long ago and had been searching for convinced her otherwise. For a long while Nora wondered if she should’ve listened to her conscience.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a month on board the dynamics on board have shifted, but finally the investigation shows progress. Though what they find might change things forever.

               “Hey buddy, heard you were looking for me?” Jonah asked, as he leant against the entrance to Isaac’s lab.

               “Jonah! Yes,” Isaac yanked off his safety googles and lab coat and gestured for Jonah to sit. “I would’ve found you myself but well, I was a bit preoccupied, so I asked Ashley,” he said. It had been just over a month since Isaac started investigating the murder and dynamics on the ship had shifted a bit. While tension still festered between Lena and Benny without new decisions to make or dramatic events there was no real conflict to be had. The murder had divided people at first, half the passengers had guns from Benny to protect themselves whereas the other half judged anyone carrying a gun with suspicion. After two weeks however that tension had died down to the point were most felt comfortable with Jonah locking up any guns Benny didn’t control. Now that a month had gone by Isaac hadn’t seen or heard anything about guns for a while. Not that he was complaining.

               “Is this because of your investigation?” Jonah asked as he sat, “did you find something?”

               “No, unfortunately, still no progress,” Isaac had made almost no progress in his investigation into the murder. It had taken the majority of the month to adapt his equipment, and the test he is running could take even longer. “I’m really out of my depth here. The only thing I could think to do is analyse the burn marks”

               “What would that tell you?”

               “No idea, but it worth a shot.”

               Jonah laughed at that, “so… why did you call me here? I’m fine to hang out I mean”

               “Oh it’s nothing serious,” Isaac waved his hands, “I just have a surprise for you is all”

               “A surprise? I’m not the biggest fan of surprises”

               “Oh you’ll like this one,” Isaac finished the cliché. Isaac had spent a lot of his time this last month with Jonah. When he first tried to make friends Ashley was his first choice, but she preferred hanging out with large groups or going to one of Ethan’s parties. Not exactly Isaac’s scene. Nora did spend time with him occasionally, but more often than not that meant her drinking in his lab while he worked in silence. He and Jonah grew closer however. They both enjoyed the calmer atmosphere of his lab, or Miranda’s library. Isaac tried, and failed, to explain his research to Jonah. Jonah tried, and failed, to explain to Isaac why the 299 flagship-class’ design was flawed. Regardless of their differences they became friends.

               One of Isaac’s machines made a strange alarm sound which made Jonah jump out of his seat. “It’s fine, it’s fine,” Isaac laughed, “just mean’s its ready”

               “What’s ready?”

               “This,” Isaac drew out the word as he reached into the strange machine with tongs. “Pizza!” He exclaimed as he dropped it on the table. Pizza… was one word to describe it.

“The crust is green,” Jonah pointed, “why is the crust green?”

               “Well we didn’t exactly have the proper ingredients,” Isaac explained, “so I had to improvise”

               “And you used your science equipment for this?”

               “Well I already cannibalised most of it for my investigation. And the stuff in the kitchen was really suited for all of my… improvisations.”

               And boy had he improvised. The crust was green, and more sticky than solid. The “cheese” however, was solid, solid enough that Isaac had to struggle when cutting it into slices and Jonah had to take over. Isaac pulled out some paper plates and served the slices, something underneath the cheese oozed out as he did. “Um, not to be rude or anything,” Jonah cringed, “but this is…edible right?”

               “Yes totally!” Isaac paused, “I think. Only one way to find out!”

               “Ok. On three then,” Jonah gestured with his pizza slice, “One, two… three.”

               They both take a bite… and immediately spit it back out. “Oh gods, what have I done?” Isaac choked

               Jonah laughed, “No it’s okay it tastes just as good as it looks”

               Isaac slapped his arm playfully, “Rude. I put effort into this”

               “Really?” Jonah stopped laughing, “how long did this take you?”

               Isaac shrugged, “About a week, a little more”

               “What? Didn’t you have anything better to do?”

               “Not really,” Isaac pushed away the pizza, “I can’t do my research without accessing the ship’s sensors. And the “investigation” is just waiting for my test to finish.” He looked Jonah in the eyes, “Besides, you said you were gonna miss pizza. Wanted to make you feel at home”

               Jonah laughed and clapped his hand on Isaac’s shoulder, “Well the thought, at least, is welcome.”

               They sat in silence. That slight bit of contact between them felt so warm, seemed so… important.

               Another alarm sounded from a different machine. Jonah dropped his hand and shook himself, “Um…” He laughed, “please don’t tell me you made another pizza”

               “No,” Isaac sounded serious, “it’s my analysis of the burn marks.” He tapped a screen and it lit up. Jonah walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, “Hey Isaac I-” He stopped, Isaac didn’t feel warm like last time. He felt cold.

               “Jonah, we have to find Lena,” Isaac turned to him and his face was white, “right now.”

…

               “Oh crap!” Ethan quickly dropped the welder

               “What, what happened?” Claire asked

               “I burned myself.” Ethan sucked on his thumb

               “What, again?” Claire laughed

               “Hey why don’t you try holding this thing for three hour’s straight?”

               “I don’t even want to know what’s going on here”

               Ethan fell off his stepladder, “Ashley!”

               “Wait, you know what? I think I do want to know,” she said, tapping her fingers as she crossed her arms

               Claire helped Ethan up. “Well,” she said, “guess we don’t really have a choice.” Claire had gotten to know Ashley through Ethan. Although that’s not saying much, through Ethan you kind of meet everyone. Not to mention that with Ashley’s new role she literally did know everyone.

Ashley had finally found a purpose about a week after the murder. Since she couldn’t get access to the ship’s engines she spent her time socialising and in the space of a week knew the names of every passenger on board. Eventually when someone needed information passed along, whether to a specific person or to the whole crew, Ashley was the person to tell. She had even recruited a few others to pass messages along for her. While the ship did have a p.a. system that could be accessed from any room it wasn’t exactly private. Not to mention that giving the whole ship a heart attack when all you wanted was to ask a friend to hang out was a bit much.

               Ethan sighed, “Fine, I suppose.” They sat down in the pilot seats and explained everything. He and Claire had spent the last month trying to break through the wall in the cockpit. Of course they had to operate secretly, in case some passengers, most likely Jonah, had a problem with them sabotaging the ship. Or if others, most likely Benny, try to take over their operation. This had delayed their progress. Finding tools took the longest, as Benny was always full of questions when they asked for anything strange. They had even gone as far as to pinch some of Isaac’s pare equipment, but even then what they had gathered wasn’t exactly state-of-the-art.

               They’re best guess so far was that if they used the welder for long enough it would eventually melt through the metal. So far, it had not. At least working in the cockpit, no one ever had any reason to come down here except them. Almost no one.

               Ashley was less than impressed. “So you’re master plan is to stand here for eternity until either the door melts or you do,” she said

               “Well when you say it like that it sounds stupid,” Ethan muttered

               “Let’s face it Ethan, it is stupid,” Claire said, kicking one of the empty cans of fuel that littered the room.

               “So what we give up?”

               “Well do you have a better idea?”

               “No.” Ethan seemed to deflate, then he lit up again, “But, if we had an engineer on our team”

               Ashley narrowed her eyes, “I’m a mechanic, not an engineer”

               “Same thing”

               “It’s really not”

               “Look, engineer or not you can help. I mean, a mechanic should know much more about this stuff than an event manager and a…”

               Claire gave him a death stare

               “… IT specialist”

               Ashley didn’t miss the interaction, but she shrugged, “Whatever, why should I help you though? It’s not like I don’t have my own stuff to do”

               “Because it’ll be fun,” Ethan said

               Ashley just raised her eyebrow judgingly

               “And hey if we get access to the computer it means we can get access to the engi-”

               “I’ll do it”

               “-nes. Really?”

               “I really like engines,” Ashley said with an almost manic look in her eyes

               “Alright then, what’s first boss?”

               “Alright!” Ashley jumped up, “first I need to know what I’ve got to work with, can you gather up everything you’ve collected? And then sort it into three groups: mechanical, electrical, and gas?”

               “Can do,” Claire replied, bending down and lifting up armfuls of empty fuel cans

               “Okay,” Ashley breathed, rubbing her hands together, “let’s do this.”

…

               “I am… so bored,” Nora sighed, resisting the urge to throw her bag of seeds across the field

               “Oh come on it’s not that bad,” Lena said

               “Seriously? How do you do this?” Nora gestured to the huge expanse of dirt. “I’ve already been planting for about 5 minutes and I’m about, what? One tenth done?”

               “Newsflash: farming takes time,” Lena teased her, “come on Nora you didn’t really think this would be easy, did you?”

               “Of course not,” Nora smiled, “why do you think it took you a month to convince me to come out here?”

               “Come Nora,” Miranda interrupted their banter, “it takes patience but in the end it’ll all be worth it. Besides, Lena, this is something much more exciting than “farming””

               “Uh, excuse me Miranda. Farming flowers is still farming, thank you very much. And farming done right is very “exciting” thank you very much”

               Miranda raised her hands in mock surrender

               “And that’s other thing, we’re not even planting food. Is all this effort really worth it?” Nora asked

               “Hey this field is already automated for the berry field,” Lena nodded behind her to where the half-grown plants filled the majority of the field. “This section will already be watered but we’ve got nothing else to plant here. If Miranda wants to grow flowers and tend to the fields she’s free to”

               “So… what are we doing here then?”

               Miranda and Lena laughed. “Because we’re nice,” Lena said, then paused, “and because we’ve got nothing better to do”

               “Well, the first harvest will be soon,” Miranda said, “then you can leave me all alone to tend to these”

               “Oh yes, the radish harvest,” Nora rolled her eyes, “the whole ship’s buzzing about it”

               “Hey,” Lena slapped her leg with a glove, “don’t make fun it’s the first step towards being self-sufficient”

               “Yeah, yeah. Doesn’t mean I can’t wish the nicer veggies grew faster, right?”

               “They’ll be done soon enough. And besides it’s not all boring, I finally caved and planted grapes for wine, didn’t I?”

               “And we’re forever grateful,” Miranda laughed.

               In truth Nora was glad she came out to help them. It was either be bored here or be bored somewhere else. Nora had quickly found that once the drama, and the rumours about her, stopped things got very monotonous. Though she finally had the solitude she wanted after about a week of getting drunk alone she found herself doing anything to break up the monotony. And to save her liver. Isaac was good for when she wanted company without the expectation of talking or activities, but she could tell she still made him uncomfortable. She sometimes went for runs with Jonah, but he made her uncomfortable. Lena was really the only one who she felt she had a rapport with. Even if she made Nora do things like this.

               “Lena!” A voice rang out from across the field

               “Is that Isaac?” Nora saw him running towards them, full pelt. It was awkward running across the crops and Isaac trampled a few of them.

               “Isaac, what the hell?” Lena yelled back, “You’re taking out like half the crop!”

               Panting, Isaac made it to them and gasped in deep breaths with his hands on his knees. “Too important,” he managed to get out between breaths, “you need to hear this”

               “We do have a p.a. system you know?” Nora said

               “Just listen to me!” He yelled back, “I’ve finally got something about the murder.” That got them to listen. Isaac took a deep breath and spoke quieter, “You know how I was running a test on the wound to find out anything I could about the projectile?”

               “Yeah, you made it sound like a long shot,” Lena replied

               “It was, but it paid off,” Isaac replied, “except I kind of wish it hadn’t”

               “What did you find?” Lena asked

               “While the ammunition had the same make up as all the guns’, the temperature on impact was much higher than anything on board could produce”

               “So, what does that mean?” Lena asked

               “It means that whatever weapon was used to kill that man was not found on the ship,” Nora answered. “It was smuggled onboard.”


End file.
